title: Thoracoscopic mediastinal lymph node dissection for lung cancer.
abstract: Mediastinal lymph node staging is an important component of the assessment and management of patients with operable non-small cell lung cancer and is necessary to achieve complete resection. During minimally invasive surgery, performance of an equivalent oncologic resection, including adequate lymph node dissection similar in extent to open thoracotomy, is absolutely necessary. We describe our techniques for video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and Robot-assisted VATS (R-VATS) mediastinal lymph node dissection when performing thoracoscopic lobectomy for lung cancer. Between 2008 and 2011, 200 consecutive patients who underwent VATS or R-VATS lobectomies for early stage lung cancer were analyzed. In our series, we removed about 25 lymph nodes per case in both complete VATS and R-VATS. A thorough lymph node dissection in lung cancer is possible with either VATS or R-VATS technique without oncological compromise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Center for Lung Cancer, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea. thoracic@ncc.re.kr
authors.forename: Hyun-Sung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hee-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jang
mesh_terms: D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008482:Mediastinum; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012371:Robotics; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000009:adverse effects; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000009:adverse effects; D016896:Treatment Outcome