Lewis R J, Caccavale R J, Sisler G E, Mackenzie J W
Section of General Thoracic Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick.
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 1992 Dec;104(6):1679-85; discussion 1685-7.
Forty patients with malignant pulmonary disease underwent evaluation, staging, and a biopsy or resection by means of video-assisted thoracic surgery. There were 20 men and 20 women whose ages ranged from 27 to 82 years. Eight patients had a wedge resection for metastatic carcinoma, three a lobectomy for primary carcinoma, six exploration of the thorax, five biopsy of the aortopulmonary window, and eighteen a sublobar resection for primary carcinoma of the lung. There was no mortality. Three patients had air leaks that lasted an average of 8 days. Video-assisted thoracic surgery seems to be useful for more precise staging of carcinoma of the lung, and, in some patients, resectional operations can be performed.
