Uniportal Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery for Minor Procedures

Uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (uVATS) is becoming popular for major lung resections, even for more complex procedures. The technique initially described for minor procedures seems more difficult to reproduce and has a longer learning curve. This review aims to describe the evolution from multiportal to uVATS and to explore its feasibility and reproducibility by identifying its drawbacks and limitations.

Research from PubMed was obtained with the terms [uniportal] AND [surgery] OR [single-port] AND [thoracic surgery] OR [VATS]. Papers concerning pediatric cases and non-English papers were excluded. Individual case reports were also excluded.

uVATS seems to be widely adopted and performed for minor procedures. The applicability of uVATS for different indications is discussed, even though practically all thoracic surgical interventions can be performed through a single incision.

The transition from conventional three-port VATS to uVATS is described in this paper. An increasing number of thoracic surgeons worldwide have adopted this approach, even for major complex anatomical lung resections. Regarding the performance of minor thoracic interventions, we believe this technique is easily reproducible with a short learning curve because the instruments do not cross each other, and intraoperative movements remain intuitive. It is therefore a feasible, safe, and efficacious technique. For these reasons, we believe uVATS should be offered to all patients undergoing minor thoracoscopic procedures.