Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: Aspirin reduces cardiovascular disease and/or stroke risks. However, perioperative aspirin use remains controversial. We assessed the efficacy of ultrasonography to facilitate video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). We analyzed the perioperative management of patients using aspirin and its association with bleeding events during lung cancer surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 38 patients who underwent VATS after continuing or discontinuing aspirin were examined. Ultrasound was performed preoperatively to evaluate the pleural adhesions. Fisher's exact test was used to analyze correlations between the two groups. RESULTS: Dense adhesions were found at VATS ports using ultrasonography (accuracy: 100%). No differences were detected in bleeding, thrombotic events, or operative times between the aspirin and non-aspirin groups. There were differences in bleeding (p=0.009) and operative times (p=0.021) between the dense adhesion and non-dense adhesion groups. CONCLUSION: Preoperative detection of pleural adhesions using ultrasonography was useful in selecting pulmonary resection patients who continued aspirin perioperatively.