[Anesthetic management for thoracoscopic lung biopsy]

Nine patients with diffuse interstitial pneumonia underwent thoracoscopic lung biopsy. To evaluate the usefulness of thoracoscopic lung biopsy, compared with open one, we examined the changes of lung function and blood gas before and after surgery in these patients, and also studied their prognosis after treatment based on their pathological diagnosis. We found that the decreases in %VC and PaO2 in patients after thoracoscopic lung biopsy were smaller than those after open one. Furthermore, all the patients were diagnosed finally from their pathological findings, which contributed to their therapy and prognosis. We conclude that thoracoscopic lung biopsy is very beneficial for treatment of patients with diffuse interstitial pneumoniae, although its anesthetic management often requires one lung ventilation.