Totally thoracoscopic surgery is a branch of minimally invasive cardiac surgeries, and its operational indicators are expanding with the development of the medical and imaging devices compared with median sternotomy and other minimally invasive cardiac surgeries (such as thoracoscope-assisted small incision surgery and robotic surgery). The learning curve is significantly shortened through the professional technique training. Totally thoracoscopic cardiac surgery has many advantages, such as minor trauma, few serious complications, fast recovery, high patient acceptance and being suitable to our country's current situation. Therefore it will be one main direction of minimally invasive cardiac surgery. This article mainly introduced the current status of totally thoracoscopic technology in the field of cardiac surgery in China.
ObjectiveTo summarize the clinical experience of thoracoscopic and laparoscopic esophagectomy for esophageal carcinoma. MethodWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 38 patients with esophageal carcinoma undergoing thoracoscopic and laparoscopic esophagectomy in Central Hospital of Chongqing Three Gorges between March 2011 and March 2013. There were 25 males and 13 females aged 64.25±7.68 years (ranged 45-79 years). The esophagus was freed and the lymph nodes were cleaned under the thoracoscope in the left lateral position. Then the stomach was freed under laparoscope and lifted up to anastomose with the esophagus through the passageway behind the sternal bone. ResultsAll surgical process progressed successfully without intraoperative death or major hemorrhage. The total operating time ranged from 250 to 340 minutes. The intraoperative hemorrhage ranged from 80 to 350 ml. The number of lymph nodes cleaned ranged from 7 to 15 (10.24±2.04) and a total of 8 patients were found of tumor metastasis. Postoperative stage grading indicated 8 patients of T1N0M0, 16 patients of T2N0M0, 5 patients of T2N1M0, 6 patients of T3N0M0 and 3 patients of T3N1M0. Postoperative complications included chylothorax in 1 patient, pulmonary infection in 4 patients, and cervical anastomotic leakage in 4 patients. All 38 patients were followed up for 3 to 12 (6.31±2.18) months, and 1 patient was lost. Two patients died from cervical anastomotic leakage resulting in chest infection. The other all achieved recoveries without metastatic or recurrence of tumor. ConclusionThe intraoperative and postoperative complications of thoracoscopic and laparoscopic esophagectomy for esophageal carcinoma are less frequently than traditional surgery, so it's worthy of promotion in large regional general hospitals.
ObjectiveTo introduce a new type thoracic vest designed according to the incision characteristics of female patients undergoing totally thoracoscopic cardiac surgery.MethodsSixty-one female patients undergoing totally thoracoscopic cardiac surgery from February 2019 to May 2020 in our department were enrolled. All female patients had hypermastia and (or) mastoptosis which covered the incision. They were randomly divided into a research group (group A, n=32) and a control group (group B, n=29). The group A used the new type thoracic vest, while the group B used the traditional single shoulder belt. The degree of satisfaction, visual analogue scale (VAS) score 24 hours after the thoracic drainage tube removed, the average time-consuming of dressing change, dressing frequency and the incision infection rate were compared between two groups.ResultsThe degree of satisfaction in the group A was higher than that of the group B (P<0.001). The VAS scores of pain, average time-consuming of dressing change and dressing frequency in the group A were less or lower than those of the group B (P<0.001). There was no statistical difference in the incision infection rate between the two groups (P=0.214), but incision infection rate of the group A was lower than that of the group B.ConclusionThe new type thoracic vest seems to be more beneficial for patients than traditional single shoulder belt. It is easy to use, increases the psychological satisfaction of patients, reduces the pain and the incision infection and improves work efficiency, which is worthy of clinical application.
ObjectiveTo study the effect of preoperative oral administration of olive oil in the patients with laparoscopic resection of esophageal carcinoma and to expose the advantages of alimentary duct in operation. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 136 patients in our hospital from June 2013 through June 2015 year. There were 83 males and 53 females at age of 58.3±7.6 years. The patients were given oral olive oil 100 ml at preoperative 12 hours. ResultsAll patients completed surgery successfully without transfer to open chest. Operation of thoracic duct filling was transparent, milky white, and with clear exposure. Thoracic duct was retained successfully in the 131 patients. It was found that intraoperative injury during separation of thoracic duct due to tumor invasion in 5 patients. These patients were treated with by titanium clipping. All the patients were with chest tube drainage for 3-5 d. Average drainage volume at postoperative 24 hours was 150±35 ml. Postoperative total drainage volume was 500±130 ml. None of postoperative chylothorax was found. Postoperative average hospitalization time was 9±2 d. ConclusionEsophageal cancer preoperative oral administration of olive oil is simple, safe, effective, no injury, and with clear exposure in thoracic duct in operation. Injury of the thoracic duct is reduced. The integrity of thoracic duct is preserved. Normal glucose and lipid metabolism is retained. Therefore, it is a good choice in preoperative preparation for esophageal cancer patients. It is worth popularization and application.
ObjectiveTo analyze the short-term outcomes of cardiac surgery via minimally invasive approach under thoracoscope in a single-center. Methods The clinical data of patients who underwent cardiac surgery via minimally invasive approach under thoracoscope between July 2017 and February 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Results A total of 453 patients were enrolled, including 150 males and 303 females at an average age of 42.2±14.6 years. The main disease types included atrial septal defect in 314 patients, partial atrioventricular septal defect in 26 patients, and cardiac tumor in 105 patients. There was no death during the perioperative period. The mean operative time was 3.9±0.8 h, cardiopulmonary bypass time was 101.2±34.0 min, aortic occlusion time was 42.1±25.1 min, ventilator assistance time was 11.6±9.4 h, ICU stay time was 22.6±13.9 h and postoperative hospital stay was 6.0±1.7 d. Intraoperative and postoperative complications occurred in 18 (4.0%) patients, including 2 patients with conversion to sternotomy, 3 with incision expand, 3 with reoperation for bleeding, 1 with of redo operation, 4 with incision infection, 2 with respiratory insufficiency, 2 with cerebrovascular accident, and 1 with ventricular fibrillation. The follow-up time was 22.6±15.4 months, during which 1 patient died, 4 patients had moderate mitral regurgitation, 1 patient had mild-moderate mitral regurgitation, and 1 patient had mild-moderate tricuspid regurgitation. Conclusion Minimally invasive cardiac surgery under thoracoscope is safe with small invasions and few complications, and has satisfactory short-term outcomes.
Objective To summarize the early experience of modified Nuss procedure with thoracoscope for repairing pectus excavatum in children. Methods Fiftythree pediatric pectus excavatum were treated by modified Nuss procedure with thoracoscope from June 2004 to July 2006, theage ranged from 2.4 to 16.0 years, the average age was 8.1 years. Thirtysix patients were symmetric pectus excavatum and 17 patients were asymmetric pectus excavatum. Results The operation in all patients were successful, the average blood loss was less than 10ml. Pericardium perforation occurred in 2 earlier patients during the operation, pneumothorax occurred in 6 patients postoperatively,pleural effusion occurred in 3 patients, and all resolved by corresponding treatments. The average hospital length of stay was 5.5 days. All patients had a satisfied deformity correction and no needs of transfusion. The depression was thoroughly corrected in 48 patients, residual depression was less than 20% of preoperative degrees in 5 patients. Therapeutic results evaluation showed excellent in 46 patients and good in 7 patients. All patients were followed up in 1-25 months without any complaints, the activity ability was same as normal children; there were no bar displacement and injury event occurred. The bar had been removed in 1 patient 24 months after surgery who still kept in excellent results. Conclusion Modified Nuss procedure is easy to be performed with minimal invasion and good shortterm results. Thoracoscopic visualization facilitates the safety of this technique. It is recommendable to be tried and extended applied.
Objective To explore clinical efficacy and independent risk factors related to the recurrence of primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Method We retrospectively anal- yzed the clinical data of 566 PSP patients by VATS in our hospital between December 2011 and June 2014 year. The patients were divided into a triple-port group(110 patients with 88 males and 22 females, aged 31.34±15.62 years) and a double-port group (456 patients with 383 males and 73 females, aged 31.46±15.65 years) by operation methods. We tried to find out the independent risk factors related to the recurrence. Results There was no statistical difference in intraoperative blood loss, postoperative drainage, drain removal, postoperative complications, postoperative length of hospital stay and rate of postoperative recurrence between the two groups (P>0.05) . However, the operation time (P<0.001) and the drainage of postoperative 48 hours (P<0.05) in the double-port group was shorter or less than that in the triple-port group. The overall recurrence rate was 1.41% (8/566) . The minors (OR=14.75, P=0.045) , no bulla type (OR=32.76, P=0.019) , and multiple bulla type (OR=15.48, P=0.013) were the independent risk factors for postoperative recurrence. Conclusions The double- port VATS technique has similar effect with triple-port VATS technique on spontaneous pneumothorax patients under- gone pulmonary bullae ligation and pleurodesis. Bulla ligation and whole mechanical pleurodesis can get better clinical efficacy and lower rate of recurrence. The minor, no bulla type, and multiple bulla type are the independent recurrence risk factors of PSP after surgery.
ObjectiveTo analyze the operation outcomes and learning curve of uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS).MethodsAll consecutive patients who underwent uniportal VATS between November 2018 and December 2020 in Shangjin Branch of West China Hospital of Sichuan University were retrospectively enrolled, including 62 males and 86 females with a mean age of 50.1±13.4 years. Operations included lobectomy, segmentectomy, wedge resection, mediastinal mass resection and hemopneumothorax. Accordingly, patients' clinical features in different phases were collected and compared to determine the outcome difference and learning curve for uniportal VATS.ResultsMedian postoperative hospital stay was 5 days, and the overall complication rate was 8.1% (12/148). There was no 30-day death after surgery or readmissions. Median postoperative pain score was 3. Over time, the operation time, incision length and blood loss were optimized in the uniportal VATS lobectomy, the incision length and blood loss increased in the uniportal VATS segmentectomy, and the postoperative hospital stay decreased in the uniportal VATS wedge resection.ConclusionUniportal VATS is safe and feasible for both standard and complex pulmonary resections. While, no remarkable learning curve for uniportal VATS lobectomy is observed for experienced surgeon.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) esophagectomy and routine operation on the short-term quality of life in patients with esophageal cancer. MethodsFrom January 2012 through January 2014, 157 esophageal cancer patients were classified into a VATS group (n=42) and a routine operation group (n=115) in our hospital. All patients in the two groups completed the Chinese versions of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ)-C30 and QLQ-OES18 at one, six and 12 months after operation separately. ResultsAt the end of 6, 12 months after operation, the evaluation on global health status was higher in the VATS group(68.8±12.3 vs. 62.7±13.7, P<0.05; 76.2±10.4 vs. 68.6±8.8, P<0.05). At the end of 1, 6, 12 months after operation, the scores of symptom pain were less significantly in the VATS group than those in the routine operation group (P<0.05). One month after operation, the score of active ability in the VATS group was higher (P<0.05). At the end of 6, 12 months after operation, the score of emotional function and social role in the VATS group was higher (P<0.05). At the end of 12 months after operation, the score of role function and cognitive function in the VATS group was also higher (P<0.05). ConclusionVATS is of better effect on improving short-term quality of life of esophageal cancer patients compared with routine operation.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of totally thorascopic (TT) and median sternotomy (MS) approaches for atrial septal defect repair (ASDR). MethodsDatabases including The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2016), PubMed, EMbase, CBM, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP were electronically searched from inception to June 2016, to collect randomized controlled trials or cohort studies about TT vs. MS approaches for ASDR. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsA total of 11 cohort studies involving 687 patients were included with 305 patients in the TT group, and 382 patients in the MS group. The results of meta-analysis showed that: The TT group had shorter postoperative ventilation time (MD=-1.49, 95%CI -2.27 to -0.71, P=0.000 2), postoperative ICU stay time (MD=-7.30, 95%CI -12.07 to -2.53, P=0.003), hospital stay time (MD=-2.06, 95%CI -2.80 to -1.32, P<0.000 01) and less postoperative drainage (MD=-199.83, 95%CI -325.96 to -73.70, P=0.002) than the MS group. But the bypass time (MD=9.42, 95%CI 1.55 to 17.30, P=0.02) and aortic clamping time (MD 6.78, 95%CI 3.48 to 10.07, P<0.000 1) of the TT group were significantly longer than those of the MS group. ConclusionCompared with MS, TT can significantly reduce the length of postoperative ventilation, postoperative ICU stay, hospital stay and postoperative drainage. But there are risks of prolonged bypass time and aortic clamping time in the TT group. Due to the quantity and quality of the included studies, the above conclusions still needs to be verified by carrying out more studies.