[Three-port complete video-assisted thoracic surgery for mediastinal diseases]

Three port complete video-assisted thoracic surgery( 3-port cVATS) is our standard approach for primary lung cancers. The video image for the assistant is inverted, and the access ports are inserted at the best location decided by preoperative simulation surgery. Using this approach, the forceps of the operator are never interfered by the forceps of the assistant. We present 3-port cVATS applied to the mediastinal diseases difficult to be done via hybrid VATS mainly under direct vision. 1)The superior mediastinal tumor extending above the thoracic inlet. 2)The posterior mediastinal tumor extending to the other side behind the left atrium. 3)Surgical removal of non-traumatic mediastinal hematoma without capsule resection. 4)Simple thymectomy for the small anterior mediastinal tumor. We could carry through every operation via 3-port cVATS from one side of the chest. This is our minute report of 3-port cVATS applied to the mediastinal diseases.