[New tactile sensor for thoracoscopic detection of intrapulmonary nodules]

We have developed a new tactile sensor which can be used for thoracoscopic detection of invisible intrapulmonary nodules. We applied this new device for consecutive ten cases to excise twelve intrapulmonary nodules thoracoscopically from August 1994 to January 1995. In this report, one of ten cases was presented. The patient was a forty-three-year-old female and admitted with an indeterminate nodule on chest X-ray and computed tomography. When the sensor probe quantifying the hardness of objects by the changes in resonance frequency of the sensor (delta f) passed above the nodule, a sudden jump was evoked in delta f curve on the computer screen. The nodule was resected thoracoscopically and proved pathologically to be adenocarcinoma. Thoracoscopic procedure was then converted to open thoracotomy and lobectomy with lymph node dissection was performed.