Video-assisted thoracic surgery for patients with bronchiectasis

Abstract

Introduction: The term bronchiectasis describes long-term condition where the airways of the lungs become abnormally and permanent widened, leading to a build-up of excess mucus.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for major lung resection has become a more frequent procedure in recent years with promising outcome.

Aims and Objectives: Here we aim to analyzed total thoracoscopic lung resection for patients with localized bronchiectasis and compared it with patients who underwent thoracotomy in our hospital.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of consecutive patients who underwent lobectomy and pneumonectomy for bronchiectasis between January 2015 and March 2019 in our department. Patients were divided into two groups as VATS and thoracotomy. Median operative time, length of stay in hospital and complication rates were compared between two groups.

Results: Between January 2015 and March 2019, 34 patients with bronchiectasis were operated in our department. Among them, 15 patients underwent thoracotomy and 19 patients underwent attempted VATS resection.

VATS group had a shorter length of stay in the hospital (p: 0.95) and shorter length of drainage (p: 0.83) as compared with those in the thoracotomy group (as shown in Table 2).

Postoperative minor complications were found in 7(%41,1) patients in VATS group, it was 5(%29,4) in thoracotomy group.

Conclusion: In our study the duration of hospital stays, and drainage were shorter in VATS group. No significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of complication rates and operation time. Therefore, it is reasonable to recommend VATS instead of thoracotomy for selected patients with bronchiectasis.