Advances in Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery, Thoracoscopy

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is an evolving modality in the treatment and management of a variety of pathologies affecting dogs and cats. Representative disease processes include pericardial effusion, pericardial neoplasia, cranial mediastinal neoplasia, vascular ring anomaly, pulmonary neoplasia, pulmonary blebs and bullae, spontaneous pneumothorax, and chylothorax. Several descriptive and small case reports have been published on the use of VATS in veterinary medicine. More recently, larger case series and experimental studies have revealed potential benefits and limitations not documented previously. Significant technological advances over the past 5 years have made possible a host of new applications in VATS. This article focuses on updates and cutting-edge applications in VATS.