Minimally invasive approaches for en-bloc anatomical lung and chest wall resection

Background

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of en-bloc anatomical lung and chest wall resection via minimally invasive surgery.

Methods

Between January 2013 and December 2021, a total of 22 patients (18 males, 4 females; mean age: 63±6.9 years; range, 48 to 78 years) who underwent anatomical lung and chest wall resection using minimally invasive surgery for non-small cell lung cancer were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic, clinical, intra- and postoperative data of the patients, recurrence, metastasis, mortality, and overall survival rates were recorded.

Results

The surgical technique was robot-assisted thoracic surgery in two, multiport video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in 18, and uniport video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in two patients. Upper lobectomy was performed in 17 (77.3%) patients, lower lobectomy in three (13.6%) patients, and upper lobe segmentectomy in two (9.1%) patients. Five different techniques were used for chest wall resection. Nine (40.9%) patients had one, eight (36.4%) patients had two, four (18.2%) patients had three, and one (4.5%) patient had four rib resections. Chest wall reconstruction was necessary for only one of the patients. The mean operation time was 114±36.8 min. Complete resection was achieved in all patients. Complications were observed in seven (31.8%) patients without mortality. The mean follow-up was 24.4±17.9 months. The five-year overall survival rate was 55.3%.

Conclusion

Segmentectomy/lobectomy and chest wall resection with minimally invasive surgery are safe and feasible in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer. In addition, the localization of the area where chest wall resection would be performed should be considered the most crucial criterion in selecting the ideal technique.

Intercostal Nerve Reconstruction for Severe Compensatory Hyperhidrosis: The Gebitekin Technique

Compensatory sweating (CS) is the most common and disabling complication of endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy and represents an unmet clinical challenge. Our surgical hypothesis is to generate a parallel pathway to the damaged part of the sympathetic nerve, similar to the Kuntz nerve, by reconstructing the 2 healthy intercostal nerves, thus treating CS. Here, we present a novel videothoracoscopic technique involving bilateral intercostal nerve reconstruction in patients with severe CS after endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy.

Level of pleural invasion effects on prognosis in lung cancer

Objective:

To analyze the extent of visceral pleural invasion (VPI) and its effect on survival along with its place in determining the T descriptor in TNM staging in our patients.

Methods:

A total of 233 patients underwent lung resection. The data were retrospectively analyzed in terms of sex, age, histopathologic type, stage of the tumor, extent of VPI, and survival. Patients who had neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy, distant metastasis, parietal pleural invasion, and operative mortality were excluded.

Results:

The median follow-up was 59 months (range 4–126). The extent of VPI was PL0 in 119 (65.7%) patients, PL1 in 47 (26%) patients, and PL2 in 15 (8%) patients. The median survival rates were 65 (range 43–96) months for PL0, 54 (range 37–72) months for PL1, and 39 (range 12–69) months for PL2. The 5-year overall survival rates were 74.7% for PL0, 77.8% for PL1, and 53.3% for PL2. There were statistically significant differences in overall survival among PL0, PL1, and PL2 ( p = 0.03). In subgroup analysis, the difference was insignificant in PL0 vs PL1 ( p = 0.81), but significant in PL0 vs PL2 ( p = 0.02) and PL1 vs PL2 ( p = 0.04) groups.

Conclusions:

This study emphasizes that the presence of VPI is related with poor prognosis independent of lymph node positivity, histologic subtypes, and tumor size. As the study shows, PL0 and PL1 have similar survival rates and these two groups may be considered as VPI (−) patients whereas PL2 disease affects survival outcomes.