Comparing the postoperative outcomes of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) segmentectomy using a multi-port technique versus a single-port technique for primary lung cancer

Single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has attracted much attention recently; however, it is still very challenging to perform especially on more technically demanding sublobar anatomic resection procedures such as segmentectomy. Therefore we conducted a retrospective study on the perioperative results of single-port segmentectomy using a propensity-matched method for comparison with multi-port segmentectomy in patients with primary lung cancer.

For procedures of anatomic segmentectomy performed between May 2006 and March 2014, we retrieved data on patients' demographic information, medical history, cancer information, and postoperative outcomes from our surgical database of thoracoscopic lung cancer surgery. Outcome variables included the number of lymph nodes retrieved during the surgery, the amount of blood loss, the duration of hospitalization, the length of the wound, the operation duration in minutes, and incidence and types of complication. The t-test and Chi-squared test were used to compare demographic and clinical variables between single- and multi-port approaches.

A total of 98 consecutive patients who underwent VATS segmentectomy for lung cancer treatment were identified in our database: 52 (53.1%) underwent a single-port segmentectomy and 46 (46.9%) had a multi-port segmentectomy. After propensity score matching, the differences in patients' age, pulmonary function tests, tumor size, and operating surgeons were no longer significant between the two sample groups. The length of the wound was the only surgical outcome for which single-port segmentectomy had a significantly better outcome than multi-port segmentectomy (P value <0.001).

This study showed that single-port VATS segmentectomy yielded comparable surgical outcomes to multi-port segmentectomy despite technique difficulties and smaller wound in our setting.