How Bronchoscopic Dye Marking Can Help Minimally Invasive Lung Surgery

Abstract

In the era of increasing availability of high-resolution chest computed tomography, the diagnosis and management of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) has become a common challenging clinical problem. Meanwhile, surgical techniques have improved, and minimally invasive approaches such as robot- and video-assisted surgery are becoming standard, rendering the palpation of such lesions more difficult, not to mention pure ground-glass opacities, which cannot be felt even in open surgery. In this article, we explore the role of bronchoscopy in helping surgeons achieve successful minimally invasive resections in such cases.

Keywords

• solitary pulmonary nodule
• bronchoscopy
• minimally invasive surgery
• indocyanine green
• methylene blue
• radial EBUS