Effects of laparothoracoscopic minimally invasive surgery and traditional thoracotomy on postoperative pulmonary infection and lung function in patients with esophageal cancer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of laparothoracoscopic minimally invasive surgery and traditional thoracotomy on postoperative pulmonary infection and lung function in patients with esophageal cancer. Methods A total of 150 patients who were diagnosed with esophageal cancer and needed surgery were divided into observation group(laparothoracoscopic minimally invasive surgery) and control group (traditional thoracotomy) by surgical methods, with 75 cases in each group. The perioperative indexes, incidence of pulmonary infection and indexes of lung function [forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), percentage of FEV1 on prediced value (FEV1%)]were compared between the two groups. Results Compared with control group, the operation time of observation group was longer, the amount of lymph node dissection was bigger, the bleeding volume was less and the hospital stays were shorter (P 0.05); after surgery, the indexes of lung function in two groups all decreased, and the descend range of control group was more significant (P<0.05). Conclusions Compared with traditional thoracotomy, laparothoracoscopic minimally invasive surgery has more advantages and less injury, which can reduce postoperative pulmonary infection and decrease the damage to lung function so as to achieve better prognosis, so it is worthy of clinical application. Key words: Minimally invasive surgery; Thoracotomy; Esophageal cancer; Pulmonary infection; Lung function