A clinical analysis on the efficacy and characteristics of single-direction uniportal thoracoscopic pulmonary lobectomy

Abstract

Objective To explore the feasibility and clinical characteristics of single-direction uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (SU-VATS) lobectomy in the treatment of lung cancer. Methods Clinical data of patients who underwent consecutive lobectomy with systematic lymph nodes dissection by one same surgeon from January 2016 to December 2017 in Xuzhou Central Hospital was collected and retrospectively analyzed. Suitable cases were divided into three groups, single-direction uniportal VATS(SU-VATS), conventional uniportal VATS (U-VATS), and multiple-port VATS (M-VATS) group, with 60 patients in each group. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, numbers and stations of dissected lymph nodes, postoperative chest drainage time, complications, and hospital stay were compared respectively among the three groups. Results There was no significant difference among the groups in terms of age, complication, diameter and location of the tumor(P>0.05). The surgical margins were negative in all cases, with no conversion to thoracotomy or dead case occured. The operation time of SU-VATS group was significantly shorter than that of U-VATS and M-VATS groups [(100.6±20.3) min vs (123.8±27.4) min vs (119.5±26.4) min, P 0.05). Besides, on the 1st day after surgery, the pain scores of the patients in SU-VATS group were lower than in U-VATS and M-VATS groups[(4.6±1.1) vs (5.9±1.1) vs (5.4±1.0), P 0.05). Conclusions SU-VATS lobectomy for lung cancer is reliable, followed by certain advantages as compared with U-VATS and M-VATS. Key words: Single-direction; Single-port /Uniport; Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery; Lobectomy