[Video-assisted thoracic surgery for lung cancer]

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has been applied to treat patients with various pulmonary diseases. Recent advances in video endoscopic instruments have been enabled radical resection of pulmonary malignancies as minimally invasive surgery. Forty patients with primary lung cancer underwent several types of lung resection in the past 3 years at out unit. Of these, twenty-seven anatomical pulmonary resections were performed using VATS. Peripherally located, early-stage lung cancer is thought to be a potential candidate for curative surgery with video-assisted lobectomy. Although there are some pitfalls with VATS, sufficient mediastinal lymph node dissection is thought to be possible. Additionally, intrathoracic hyperthermic chemotherapy using video-assisted thoracoscope for both pleural disseminated lesion and malignant pleural effusion is described.