title: Mini-invasive diagnosis and synchronous treatment of solitary pulmonary nodule.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to develop a simplified method to make a rapid, cost-effective, and precise diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules, and to perform synchronous treatment of solitary pulmonary nodules.
  
  
  METHODS
  the solitary pulmonary nodule was located by digital palpation, and tissue was acquired with a core biopsy gun. In the presence of primary lung cancer, the intervention proceeded to lobectomy. In the case of a benign assessment, the whole nodule was wedged out and sent for a frozen-section double check: if the benign assessment was confirmed, the patient was excluded from further surgery; if the assessment was revised to malignant, the intervention proceeded to lobectomy as well as lymphadenectomy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  76 patients were enrolled. The mean nodule diameter was 1.8 ± 0.6 cm, the mean distance between the visceral pleural and the nodule was 2.4 ± 1.4 cm, and the mean number of punctures was 2.5. The mean time for the phase of intraoperative core biopsy was 10 ± 2 min, and the related blood loss was approximately 5 mL. Fifty-six malignant nodules and 20 benign nodules were confirmed. Both the sensitivity and accuracy were 100%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  our results indicate that the simplified mini-invasive diagnosis and treatment is an accurate, safe, rapid, and cost-saving method, which may translate into fundamentally reducing the medical cost and time for lung cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Yidan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Lunxu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Pu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical; D005260:Female; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061646:Operative Time; D010173:Palpation; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D003074:Solitary Pulmonary Nodule / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D047368:Tumor Burden
keywords: Biopsy; lung neoplasms; pulmonary surgical procedures; solitary pulmonary nodule; thoracoscopic surgery; video assisted