Value of intraoperative intrathoracic ultrasonography during video-assisted thoracoscopic pulmonary resection.

Recent advances in endoscopic surgical equipment, video monitoring, and endoscopic surgical techniques have expanded the application of thoracoscopic surgery to pulmonary resection. One of the major limitations of this technique is the difficulty in identifying invisible pulmonary nodules in which manual palpation is not possible. To resolve this problem, we employed intraoperative intrathoracic ultrasonography during video-assisted thoracoscopic pulmonary resection. We conclude that intraoperative ultrasonography during thoracoscopic pulmonary resection is useful to identify pulmonary nodules, except inflammatory lesions.