The Comparative Study of Lymph Node Dissection by Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) and Conventional Lateral Incision Surgery

Abstract

Background and objective Although widely adopted, there is lack of comparative data for patients undergoing lymph node dissection in radical surgery of lung cancer by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) vs conventional lateral incision surgery. The aim of this study is to compare the effects of lymph node dissection in radical surgery of lung cancer by VATS. Methods One hundred patients with preoperative diagnosis of peripheral lung cancer were assigned to laparoscopic surgery group (VATS) and conventional surgery group (TH) randomly. The number of removed lymph nodes and rate of positive lymph nodes were analyzed statistically. Results The number of removed lymph nodes in VATS group were: N1 242, N2 232, N3 0, 197 with positive lymph nodes; conventional surgery group: N1 243, N2 238, N3 1, 198 with positive lymph nodes. There was no significant difference for the total number of lymph nodes in two groups (χ2=0.016, P=0.815), nor for the number of positive nodese (χ2=0.034, P=0.956). Conclusion Peripheral lung cancer may get radical resection and lymph node clearance by VATS. There are no significant difference for the number of removed lymph nodes and positive rate of lymph nodes in VATS and conventional surgery.

Keywords

• Lung neoplasms
• Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery
• Lymph node excision