Procedural times in early non-intubated VATS program - a propensity score analysis

Non-intubated video-assisted thoracic surgery (NiVATS) has been introduced to surgical medicine in order to reduce the invasiveness of anesthetic procedures and avoid adverse effects of intubation and one-lung ventilation (OLV). The aim of this study is to determine the time effectiveness of a NiVATS program compared to conventional OLV.

This retrospective analysis included all patients in Leipzig University Hospital that needed minor VATS surgery between November 2016 and October 2019 constituting a NiVATS (n = 67) and an OLV (n = 36) group. Perioperative data was matched via propensity score analysis, identifying two comparable groups with 23 patients. Matched pairs were compared via t-Test.

Patients in NiVATS and OLV group show no significant differences other than the type of surgical procedure performed. Wedge resection was performed significantly more often under NiVATS conditions than with OLV (p = 0,043). Recovery time was significantly reduced by 7 min (p = 0,000) in the NiVATS group. There was no significant difference in the time for induction of anesthesia, duration of surgical procedure or overall procedural time.

Recovery time was significantly shorter in NiVATS, but this effect disappeared when extrapolated to total procedural time. Even during the implementation phase of NiVATS programs, no extension of procedural times occurs.