Use of the hybrid room for thoracic surgery procedures: single-stage localization and removal of non-palpable nodules.

With the widespread availability of lung cancer screening programs, the number of small lung nodules requiring histological characterization has dramatically increased. Because computed tomography-guided fine-needle aspiration may frequently yield false-negative results, excisional biopsy using thoracoscopy is frequently required. Although thoracoscopic procedure has been known to be ideal for nodule resection, the identification of very small, subsolid and deep pulmonary nodules may still be challenging. Precise lesion localization is a key prerequisite to avoid conversion to an unplanned thoracotomy. In the traditional workflow, the localization procedure is performed in the radiology suite, after which the patient is moved to an operating room. With the availability of hybrid operating rooms, a new approach encompassing simultaneous localization and removal of non-palpable lung nodules has become feasible. In this article, we review the procedural workflow of this new technique and discuss its indications and results.