Thoracoscopic left upper lobectomy with systematic lymph nodes dissection under left pulmonary artery clamping

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has become a routine procedure for stage I and II lung cancers. However, in the presence of multiple metastasized lymph nodes invading the pulmonary artery or its major branches, the pulmonary artery have to be resected partially or sleeve resected, which could be extremely risky under thoracoscopic conditions. In order to reduce the risk of bleeding, an experienced thoracic surgeon would occlude the inflow and outflow of the pulmonary artery before anatomically dissecting the area of the pulmonary artery with tumor invasion. Different centers may use different clamping techniques and devices. Here, we report our technique of totally thoracoscopic left upper lobectomy with systematic lymph nodes dissection under pulmonary artery clamping for a 49-year-old woman with left upper lobe carcinoma. The video demonstrates our thinking and surgical process.