Abstract
BACKGROUND: Video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is the main surgical method for lung cancer. The aim of this study was to analyze the reasons for conversion to thoracotomy in 83 cases among 1,350 consecutive cases who underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lobectomy by a single surgical team, in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the rules and the opportunity for conversion to thoracotomy in VATS lobectomy under normal conditions. METHODS: The clinical data of 1,350 patients who underwent VATS lobectomy between September 21, 2009 and June 1, 2020, by a single surgical team in the Fifth Department of Thoracic Surgery of the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University were retrospectively analyzed. There were 773 males and 577 females, aged 8-87 years, with a median age of 61.3 years, including 83 cases of benign diseases, 38 cases of lung metastases, and 1,229 cases of primary lung cancer. The cases with stage I, II and IIIa were 676, 323 and 230, respectively. The cases of left upper, left lower, right upper, right middle, right lower, right middle and upper and right middle and lower lobectomy were 301 (22.30%), 231 (17.11%), 378 (28.00%), 119 (8.81%), 262 (19.41%), 16 (1.19%) and 43 (3.19%), respectively. RESULTS: In the cohort of 1,350 consecutive patients with VATS lobectomy, 83 patients (6.15%) were converted to thoracotomy for different reasons. The conversion rate of benign lesions was significantly higher than that of malignant tumors (P<0.05). The conversion rate in stage IIIa was significantly higher than that in stage I and II (P<0.05). The conversion rate of combined lobectomy was significantly higher than that of single lobectomy (P=0.001). The conversion rate of left upper lobectomy was significantly higher than that of other single lobectomy (P<0.001). The conversion rate of right middle lobectomy was significantly lower than that of other single lobectomy (P=0.049). The main reasons for conversion were vascular injury (38.55%), lymph node interference (26.51%) and dense adhesion in thoracic cavity (16.87%). In the conversion group, the total operation time was (236.99±66.50) min and the total blood loss was (395.85±306.38) mL. The operation time in patients converted to thoracotomy due to lymph node interference was (322.50±22.68) min, which was significantly longer than that in the other groups (P<0.05). The intraoperative blood loss in patients converted to thoracotomy due to vascular injury was (560.94±361.84) mL, which was significantly higher than that in the other groups (P<0.05). With the increase in surgical experience, the number of vascular injuries gradually decreased at the early stage, mid-stage and late stage (P=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: In VATS lobectomy, benign lung lesions and more advanced malignant tumors led to more surgical difficulties and higher conversion rate. The conversion rate was different in different lobectomy sites, with the highest in left upper lobectomy, and the lowest in right middle lobectomy. Vascular injury, lymph node interference and dense adhesion were the main reasons for conversion to thoracotomy, which led to prolonged operation time and increased blood loss. With the increasing number of surgical cases, the rate of conversion to thoracotomy in VATS lobectomy continues to decline, which may be mainly due to the more advanced treatment of pulmonary vessels.