Thoracoscopic lung resection by the help of Nd:YAG laser

The Swedish surgeon Jacobaeus was the first to use a lighted cystoscope for the lysis of pleural adhesions /5/. The same author reported, in 1921, five cases of intrathoracic malignancies diagnosed by thoracoscopy /6/. After the appearance of video-assisted cholecystectomy and abdominal surgery, video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) also occupied a major share in thoracic surgery. It was long ago that we introduced a thoracoscope (not the video-assisted type) for thoracic intervention. In 1988 we published 24 cases of thoracic sympathectomies in which we used the thoracoscope /16/.