We performed a retrospective analysis of 35 videothorascopic procedures (VTC) in 35 patients with pulmonary nodule. Mean age 54.3, mean hospital days 4.3. The mean procedure time was 20 minutes with the exception of major resections. Pathologic findings were 7 primary lung carcinoma, 14 methastasic carcinomas of different origins, 12 benign lesions and 2 mesotheliomas.
In 6 procedures an open thorascomie was added to VTC for major resections.
Ten patients had a previous known primary extrapulmonar carcinoma but in 4 cases this diagnosis was confirmed by VTC.
VTC is a minimal invasive procedure with few hospital days, low postoperative pain, low mortality rate and high diagnostic accuracy and in selected cases is a major contribution for diagnosis of pulmonary lesions.
Cardemil, G. ., Lui, A. ., Saavedra, M. ., Fernández, . E. ., Rojas, C. ., & Manterola, J. L. . (1999). Videotoracoscopía en el diagnóstico de lesiones pulmonares. Revista Hospital Clínico Universidad De Chile, 10(4), pp. 296–300. https://doi.org/10.5354/2735-7996.1999.80569
