Troubleshooting in thoracoscopic anatomical lung resection for lung cancer

Surg Today. 2021 May;51(5):669-677. doi: 10.1007/s00595-020-02136-x. Epub 2020 Sep 17.

Abstract

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) anatomical lung resection (ALR) has been gaining popularity in the treatment of lung cancer in line with remarkable advances in both equipment and technique. The development and refinement of its technique have allowed thoracic surgeons to perform a wide variety of challenging and complex procedures in a minimally invasive fashion. Careful and meticulous preparation may shift in the future with the increasing sophistication and capabilities of VATS ALR. Moreover, constant awareness and a structured plan of the procedure are imperative to reducing or preventing complications. Intraoperative major complications during VATS ALR are infrequent, but can have catastrophic consequences. The decision to continue with VATS should take into consideration the surgeon's skill level and ease with the approach and the relative potential benefit against the risk to the patient. We conducted this study to investigate the possible problems during VATS ALR and identify how to solve them based on the previous literature and our institutional data sampling.

Keywords: Anatomical lung resection; Primary lung cancer; Troubleshooting; VATS.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Clinical Competence*
  • Humans
  • Intraoperative Complications / prevention & control
  • Lung / anatomy & histology*
  • Lung / surgery*
  • Lung Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Pneumonectomy / adverse effects
  • Pneumonectomy / instrumentation
  • Pneumonectomy / methods*
  • Surgeons*
  • Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / adverse effects
  • Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / instrumentation
  • Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / methods*