Video-assisted thoracic surgery for lung cancer: republication of a systematic review and a proposal by the guidelines committee of the Japanese Association for Chest Surgery 2014

Ultrasound-guided Serratus Anterior Plane Block Versus Paravertebral Block for Postoperative Analgesia in Children Undergoing Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery: A Randomized, Comparative Study

OBJECTIVES

This study compared the postoperative analgesic efficacy of serratus anterior plane block (SAPB) and thoracic paravertebral block (PVB) in children undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.

SETTING

Operating room and intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital.

DESIGN

A single-center, randomized, comparative, open-labeled study.

PARTICIPANTS

Seventy pediatric patients aged 2 to 10 years who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery were enrolled.

INTERVENTIONS

Patients were equally randomized into 2 groups. In the SAPB group, patients were injected with 0.4 mL/kg 0.25% bupivacaine under ultrasound guidance into the deep SAPB and in the PVB group, patients were injected with 0.4 mL/kg 0.25% bupivacaine under ultrasound guidance into the thoracic paravertebral space.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The primary outcome was morphine consumption within the first 24 hours after surgery. The secondary outcomes were Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale pain score, intraoperative fentanyl consumption, and the time required to perform the block. The median (Q1, Q3) morphine consumption (mg/kg) in the first postoperative 24 hours was similar in the SAPB and PVB groups (0.15 [0.1-0.2], 0.1 [0.1-0.2], respectively). The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale pain score was similar in both the SAPB and PVB groups at all-time points. Intraoperative fentanyl consumption was comparable in both groups. Time needed to perform the block was shorter in SAPB than PVB.

CONCLUSIONS

SAPB provides effective postoperative pain control, similar to thoracic PVB. Moreover, it is technically easier and has a shorter time to perform than PVB. Therefore, SAPB is an effective and safe alternative to thoracic PVB.

Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The burden of respiratory and upper-gastrointestinal diseases especially affects low- and middle-income countries. Five billion people lack access to safe, timely, and affordable surgical care, including thoracic surgical care. Minimally invasive thoracic surgery (MITS) has been shown to reduce complications, shorten hospital lengths of stay, and minimize health care costs, thereby enabling patients to pay less out-of-pocket and/or limit time away from work and families. Experiences with MITS exist but are limited in low- and middle-income countries; professional societies, academic institutions, policymakers, and industry can facilitate scale-up of MITS by increasing financing, expanding surgical training, and optimizing surgical supply chains.

Thoracoscopy vs thoracotomy for the management of metastatic osteosarcoma: A Pediatric Surgical Oncology Research Collaborative Study

Complete surgical resection of pulmonary metastatic disease in patients with osteosarcoma is crucial to long-term survival. Open thoracotomy allows palpation of nodules not identified on imaging but the impact on survival is unknown. The objective of this study was to compare overall survival (OS) and pulmonary disease-free survival (DFS) in children who underwent thoracotomy vs thoracoscopic surgery for pulmonary metastasectomy. A multi-institutional collaborative group retrospectively reviewed 202 pediatric patients with osteosarcoma who underwent pulmonary metastasectomy by thoracotomy (n = 154) or thoracoscopy (n = 48). Results were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models. With median follow-up of 45 months, 135 (67.5%) patients had a pulmonary relapse and 95 (47%) patients were deceased. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed no significant difference in 5-year pulmonary DFS (25% vs 38%; P = .18) or OS (49% vs 42%, P = .37) between the surgical approaches of thoracotomy and thoracoscopy. In Cox regression analysis controlling for other factors impacting outcome, there was a significantly increased risk of mortality (HR 2.11; P = .027; 95% CI 1.09-4.09) but not pulmonary recurrence (HR 0.96; P = .90; 95% CI 0.52-1.79) with a thoracoscopic approach. However, in the subset analysis limited to patients with oligometastatic disease, thoracoscopy had no increased risk of mortality (HR 1.16; P = .62; 0.64-2.11). In conclusion, patients with metastatic osteosarcoma and limited pulmonary disease burden demonstrate comparable outcomes after thoracotomy and thoracoscopy for metastasectomy. While significant selection bias in these surgical cohorts limits the generalizability of the conclusions, clinical equipoise for a randomized clinical trial in patients with oligometastatic disease is supported.

[Advances in Surgical Approach and Resection of Non-small Cell Lung Cancer]

随着疾病谱的改变，肺癌的发病率和死亡率在全球范围内一直居高不下，自从外科干预被应用于肺癌的治疗，其地位日益提高，目前以外科手术为主的综合治疗已成为肺癌治疗的首选方案，外科手术入路和术式种类繁多，并且新的技术不断出现，本文拟总结不同手术方式和手术入路的研究进展。随着手术软硬件技术的发展和微创理念深入人心，胸腔镜微创手术较传统开胸手术为肺癌患者带来了更多的福音，手术方式的改变也可更大限度保留肺组织，提高患者的生存质量，相信随着各类手术适应证和手术方式的进一步规范，微创胸腔镜手术会给肺癌患者带来更多的益处。

Changes in exercise tolerance and quality of life are unrelated in lung cancer survivors who undergo video-assisted thoracic surgery

[Purpose] The associations between changes in respiratory function, exercise tolerance, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with lung cancer who undergo lobectomy using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) are unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between exercise tolerance and QOL in patients who underwent VATS. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty-six patients with lung cancer were followed for 3 months after VATS. Patients were evaluated before and 1, 4, and 12 weeks after surgery. Respiratory function, grip strength, and knee extension strength, as well as the results of timed up and go, 6-minute walk, and cardiopulmonary exercise tests, were evaluated using the 36-item short-form health survey. Longitudinal changes in physical performance and QOL were analyzed, as was the relationship between the change in physical function and QOL. [Results] The physical and social aspects of QOL significantly decreased at week 4 post-surgery, but recovered to pre-surgical levels by week 12. In contrast, physical (non-respiratory) function recovered to pre-surgical levels by week 4. There was no correlation between the percentages of change in QOL and those related to physical function. [Conclusion] Our preliminary study highlights the fact that early recovery of physical function is possible after VATS, but does not necessarily correlate with early QOL recovery. It is therefore necessary to perform perioperative interventions to promptly restore QOL after surgery.

How to manage tumor located between upper division and lingular segment "S3+S4 segmentectomy and S3b+S4 segmentectomy"

Segmentectomy is one of the treatment of choice for small-sized non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although simple segmentectomy is feasible even if under thoracoscopy, complicated segmentectomy which contains more than two segmental plane divisions is difficult especially thoracoscopic surgery. We here present the case of totally thoracoscopic segmentectomy between upper division and lingular segment. In the first case, the 64-year-old female patient admitted for further examination and treatment of left lung ground glass nodule. Tumor located between upper division (S3) and lingular (S4) segment was operated by bi-segmentectomy and intraoperative frozen section pathology showed minimally invasive adenocarcinoma. Systematic nodal dissection was followed after retrieval of specimens. A3b A3a+c, and A4 was individually divided and followed by division of B3 and B4. Finally, intersegmental veins V1+2a and V1+2d was identified between segments and V3a+b was divided. In the second case, the 76-year-old female patient with left lung nodule between upper division (S3b) and lingular (S4) segment was operated by bi-segmentectomy. Since sealing test revealed air leakage from resected segmental planes, fibrin glue was applied to stop air leakage and direct suturing by 4-0 prolene between S3a+S3c and S5 was performed. Target lesion between upper division and lingular segments may be resected safely if appropriate demarcation lines are identified regardless of without highly sophisticated imaging systems.

Postoperative pain in thoracic surgery: re-evaluating the benefits of VATS when coupled with epidural analgesia

Background

In order to evaluate the reduced postoperative pain of complete video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (cVATS), a study was conducted to compare acute postoperative pain between cVATS and open thoracotomy employing continuous epidural analgesia (EA).

Methods

A total of 62 patients, 49 males and 13 females with a mean age of 54.8 years, who had undergone thoracic surgery at our institution from November 2013 to June 2015 were enrolled in this study. We statistically investigated differences in the intensity of postoperative pain between cVATS with or without EA and between cVATS and open thoracotomy under EA. The degree of pain was measured using a visual analog scale, nine times for three days after the surgery.

Results

The mean postoperative pain scores were stronger in the cVATS without EA group than in the group treated with EA at every single observation point, although there were no significant differences. When employing EA, no significant differences were found between cVATS and open thoracotomy.

Conclusions

The use of EA may overshadow the benefits of using cVATS over open thoracotomy.

Non-intubated video-assisted thoracic surgery: where does evidence stand?

In recent years, non-intubated video-assisted thoracic surgery (NIVATS) strategies are gaining popularity worldwide. The main goal of this surgical practice is to achieve an overall improvement of patients' management and outcome thanks to the avoidance of side-effects related to general anesthesia (GA) and one-lung ventilation. The spectrum of expected benefits is multifaceted and includes reduced postoperative morbidity, faster discharge, decreased hospital costs and a globally reduced perturbation of patients' well-being status. We have conducted a literature search to evaluate the available evidence on this topic. Meta-analysis of collected results was also done where appropriate. Despite some fragmentation of data and potential biases, the available data suggest that NIVATS operations can reduce operative morbidity and hospital stay when compared to equipollent procedures performed under GA. Larger, well designed prospective studies are thus warranted to assess the effectiveness of NIVATS as far as to investigate comprehensively the various outcomes. Multi-institutional and multidisciplinary cooperation will be welcome to establish uniform study protocols and to help address the questions that are to be answered yet.

Lung adenocarcinoma with anomalous bronchi and pulmonary veins preoperatively identified by computed tomography

A 69-year-old woman visited our hospital complaining of right chest pain. Chest computed tomography showed a 55 × 45 mm tumor in the right upper lobe. Bronchoscopy revealed displaced anomalous B ¹ and B ²⁺³ arising from the right main bronchus, and the patient was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma by transbronchial lung biopsy from the displaced B ²⁺³ . Three-dimensional computed tomography with multiplanar reconstruction revealed a displaced anomalous B ¹ and B ²⁺³ branching directly from the right main bronchus, respectively, and abnormal distribution of the aberrant pulmonary vein (V ² ) descended dorsally to the right main bronchus and emptied into the left atrium. Video-assisted right upper lobectomy with nodal dissection was successfully performed. Attention should be paid to the anomalous bronchus and pulmonary vessels for safer lung cancer operations, especially for video-assisted thoracic surgery.

Thoracoscopic left mediastinal lymph node dissection

In Japan, the use of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for primary lung cancer is increasing. However, it is not easy to perform mediastinal lymph node dissection using VATS as effectively as it is performed using thoracotomy. Herein, I have presented two techniques for subcarinal lymph node dissection from the left thoracic cavity: one involves the retraction of the lower bronchus towards the visceral and cranial side before inferior pulmonary vein resection to secure the view of the right lower portion. The other involves the separation of lymph nodes from the right main bronchus before separation from the left bronchus, to prevent the lymph nodes from falling down and interrupting the right-side view. Moreover, I have also described a technique that facilitates left upper mediastinal lymph node dissection. It involves traction of a thoracic cardiac branch from the recurrent laryngeal nerve allowing visualization of the bottom of the #4L lymph node, so that it can be dissected easily. There has been no observation of recurrent nerve paralysis using this procedure.

Management of unexpected intraoperative bleeding during thoracoscopic pulmonary resection: a single institutional experience

PURPOSE

Unexpected intraoperative bleeding during thoracoscopic surgery, necessitating emergency conversion to thoracotomy, is gradually being reported. We reviewed our experience of encountering unexpected bleeding during thoracoscopic surgery.

METHODS

We defined "unexpected intraoperative bleeding" as the need for hemostatic procedures with angiorrhaphy, with or without a sealant. The location, cause, and management of injured vessels, and perioperative outcomes were investigated and compared with those for patients without injured vessels.

RESULTS

Between 2007 and 2014, a total of 241 thoracoscopic anatomical pulmonary resections were performed at our hospital. Twenty (8.3 %) of these patients required hemostatic procedures with angiorrhaphy, with or without a sealant. The main injured vessels were the pulmonary artery (n = 13) and vein (n = 3) and the main causes of injury were related to technical issues with energy devices and staplers. There were no morbidities related to intraoperative bleeding. The operation time and blood loss were significantly greater in the patients with vessel injury than in those without vessel injury, but perioperative morbidities and the duration of chest tube insertion (4.5 vs. 3.5 days, average, p = 0.20) and postoperative hospital stay (12.7 vs. 11.0 days, average, p = 0.08) were not significantly different.

CONCLUSIONS

The frequency of unexpected bleeding was relatively high in this series, but its management and outcomes were satisfactory in terms of safety.