[Video-assisted thoracic surgery for clinical stage I lung cancer]

We evaluated our results of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) performed for lung cancer over 8 years. Between April 2000 and October 2008, a total of 409 (60.9%) underwent VATS for lung cancer. Operative procedures as a radical operation were partial resection in 58 patients, segmentectomy in 64 patients, and lobectomy in 229 patients. There was 1 patient with operative death including hospital death due to pulmonary thromboembolism. In a median follow-up period of 21 months, the 5-year cause specific survival rate was 93.7%. According to operative procedures, the 5-year survival rate was 100% in patients underwent partial resection and segmentectomy, and 91.1% in patients underwent lobectomy. According to pathological stages, the 5-year survival rate was 98.8% in 289 patients with stage IA, 69.1% in 34 patients with stage IB, and 68.2% in 14 patients with stage IIIA. In conclusion, VATS lobectomy and VATS intentional limited resection can be performed with low mortality and good prognosis for clinical stage IA lung cancer patients.