BACKGROUND

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is a minimally invasive technique for the diagnosis and management of small pulmonary nodular lesions However, the identification of some lung nodules remains difficult.

OBJECTIVE

This research aimed to investigate the clinical value of preoperative computed tomography (CT)-guided hookwire localization of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) for thoracoscopic resection.

METHODS

Seventy-one patients with 74 SPNs underwent VATS wedge resection after CT-guided hookwire localization. The mean diameter of the SPNs was 8.50 ± 4.53 mm,,besides, the mean distance from the SPNs to the parietal pleura was 16.81 ± 5.23 mm.

RESULTS

Sixty-nine of the 74 nodules were successfully localized using a CT-guided hookwire. The success rate of CT-guided localization was 93.2%. The average localization time was 15.23 ± 7.21 min per lesion. Seven patients (9.5%) had asymptomatic pneumothorax and 10 (13.5%) had minimal needle tract parenchymal hemorrhages after localization no clinical intervention was required for these patients. The rate of success for VATS wedge resection of the SPNs was 100%. Histological analysis of the SPNs revealed malignant disease in 67.4% of the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Preoperative CT-guided hookwire localization for thoracoscopic resection is a safe and effective operation for the identification and stable fixation of SPNs.