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Published on: June 5, 2019
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Number of dye marks required in virtual-assisted lung mapping
Masaaki Nagano1, Masaaki Sato2, Masahiro Yanagiya2
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan. managano-tky@umin.ac.jp.
General Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
|December 10, 2022
Summary
For successful sublobar lung resection, at least three visible marks are needed per nodule using virtual-assisted lung mapping. This technique aids in locating non-palpable lung nodules during surgery.
Area of Science:
- Thoracic Surgery
- Pulmonology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Virtual-assisted lung mapping (VALM) is a bronchoscopic technique for marking lung nodules before surgery.
- Accurate marking is crucial for sublobar resections of impalpable nodules.
- The optimal number of marks for successful resection is not well-defined.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the correlation between the number of intraoperative visible marks and successful sublobar lung resection.
- To establish the minimum number of marks required for effective virtual-assisted lung mapping.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 210 patients with 256 lung lesions undergoing virtual-assisted lung mapping.
- Lesions were categorized as successfully or unsuccessfully resected based on initial attempt and margin proximity.
- Comparison of intraoperative visible mark counts between successful and unsuccessful resection groups.
Main Results:
- 92.4% of attempted marks were visible intraoperatively.
- 5.4% of lesions were deemed unsuccessfully resected.
- Significantly more marks were visible in successful (3) versus unsuccessful (2) resection groups (p < 0.01).
Conclusions:
- A minimum of three intraoperative visible marks per nodule is essential for successful sublobar lung resection using virtual-assisted lung mapping.
- This finding provides a guideline for optimizing the virtual-assisted lung mapping technique.
