Abstract

DEFRANCHI, Sebastián et al. Pulmonary Lobectomy: What are the Benefits of Video-assisted Thoracoscopy?. Rev. am. med. respir. [online]. 2018, vol.18, n.3, pp.178-183. ISSN 1852-236X.

Introduction: Despite the increasing use of video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy, this surgical approach is still controversial in certain aspects. The purpose of this study is to compare the surgical results of video-assisted thoracoscopic pulmonary lobectomy to pulmonary lobectomy via thoracotomy. Materials and Methods: Between 2008 and 2017, 153 patients (n = 89 males) had surgery at the Hospital Universitario Fundación Favaloro. Results: 39/89 patients underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy. Patients who had video-assisted thoracoscopy and were diagnosed with lung cancer mostly had stage I tumors (25/39 patients). Postoperative complications and mortality rates were similar in both groups. Video-assisted thoracoscopy patients had a significantly shorter pleural drainage time (4 vs. 3 days, p = 0.004) and a shorter length of hospital stay (6 vs. 4 days of stay, p = 0.03). The number of lymph node stations sampled during surgery was higher in the patients operated via thoracotomy (4 vs. 3.5 lymph node stations, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy was at least equivalent to surgery by means of thoracotomy in terms of postoperative complications. The main benefits of the video-assisted thoracoscopy approach were shorter pleural drainage time and length of hospital stay. Special attention should be paid to nodal sampling when the surgery is performed via video-assisted thoracoscopy.

Keywords : Pulmonary lobectomy; Video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy; Postoperative complications.

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