title: Experience of segmentectomy from 36 Chinese patients with non-small cell lung cancer at stage I.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although video-assisted radical operation for lung cancer has been widely accepted for treatment of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the debate over video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) segmentectomy still remains. This study analyzed the clinical outcomes using VATS segmentectomy for stage I NSCLC patients to explore the safety and efficacy of VATS segmentectomy for Ia NSCLC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review was conducted of patients who underwent VATS segmentectomy for clinical stage I NSCLC at Shanghai Chest Hospital between November 2009 and May 2012. VATS segmentectomy was performed on 36 patients. Analyses of the patient group were performed on patient demographics and clinical characteristics, intraoperative parameters, complications, and postoperative survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-five of thirty-six patients underwent VATS segmentectomy with only one conversion to open thoracic surgery. There was one peri-operative mortality from the segmentectomy group and all other patients are alive with a median follow up of 327 days. The mean volume of chest tube drainage after operation for segmentectomy was 1021.4 ml. Among other parameters, the mean blood loss was 162.5 ml (50.0 - 1600.0 ml), the mean operation time 124.8 minutes (75.0 - 271.0 minutes), chest tube duration 4.1 days (2 - 8 days), and the mean length of hospital stay 6.2 days (4 - 11 days). There was one (2.8%) locoregional recurrence after segmentectomy. Two patients successfully underwent bilateral segmentectomies and are still disease free.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For patients with stage I NSCLC, VATS segmentectomy offers a safe and equally effective option and can be applied to complicated operations such as bilateral segmentectomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Li-qiang
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Xiao-jing
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Qing-quan
authors.initials: QQ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000379:methods*