Lobectomy for Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery at the National Center for Minimal Invasive Surgery

Abstract

Introduction: The mortality rate of malignant tumors of the trachea, bronchi and lung ranks second in men and first in women. According to the Health Statistics Yearbook, there were 5,580 deaths from this cause in 2020, with a general mortality rate for men of 61.6 and 38.1 for women per 100,000 inhabitants. For the treatment of lung cancer in early stages, video-assisted thoracic surgery has demonstrated its safety and effectiveness, with low morbidity and a shorter postoperative stay.

Objective: To show the results of video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy at the National Center for Minimal Invasive Surgery.

Methods: A prospective study was carried out in a consecutive series of 29 patients operated on with a diagnosis of pulmonary nodule. A collection form was prepared to obtain the information and the informed consent of the patients was obtained at all times. The variables were evaluated during the pre, intra and postoperative period.

Results: Fifty seven (57) cases with pulmonary nodules formed the total of this study.  Twenty nine of them (29) underwent lobectomy by video-assisted thoracic surgery (50.9%). 80% were in stages I and II according to pTNM. There were 31% complications and the conversion rate was 20.7%.

Conclusions: Video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy is a safe and proven technique, which is feasible to generalize in our setting.

Keywords: lobectomy; video-assisted thoracic surgery; video thoracoscopy.