A Novel Surgical Method for Congenital Lung Malformations: A Pilot Study

Thoracoscopic surgery for congenital lung malformations (CLMs) has been widely used. However, there are still many shortcomings in the current surgical methods, such as the removal of some normal lung tissue and residual lesions. Thoracoscopic anatomical lesion resection (TALR) may be an effective and safe method to resolve these problems. This retrospective study was conducted to estimate the safety and efficiency of TALR. A retrospective review of clinical data involving patients who underwent TALR in our hospital from October 2019 to January 2021 was performed. Clinical data, including patients' demographic characteristics, manipulative details, and postoperative complications, were extracted and analyzed. A total of 95 cases were included in this study. All cases were operated on under thoracoscope, with no conversion to open surgery. The average operation time was 63.2 ± 15.2 min (range 36-142 min). The average bleeding volume during the operation was 5.8 ± 2.1 mL (range 2-10 mL). The mean diameter of the lesion was 4.4 ± 1.9 cm (range 3-7 cm). All cases had no complications, such as bronchopleurothelial fistula, hemorrhage, atelectasis, or pulmonary infection. Two patients developed pneumothorax 1 month after the operation and were cured by closed thoracic drainage. One month after the operation, chest CT showed regular cysts in 2 cases. The other patients were followed up for over 1 year by chest CT after the operation, and all recovered well without residual lesions or recurrence. Combined with the preoperative thin slice CT and intraoperative lesion boundary, anatomical intrapulmonary dissociation based on the pulmonary vein system, TALR, as a lung-sparing surgery of completely removing the lesion and retaining all normal lung tissue, has high safety and effectiveness in the treatment of CLMs.