[Indication and results of thoracoscopic segmentectomy for small peripheral lung cancer].

Since 2008, 46 patients have undergone thoracoscopic segmentectomy without mini-thoracotomy for almost pure ground-glass opacity (GGO) lesion by thin-section computed tomography (CT) finding which was difficult to be performed wedge resection. No patient was converted to both thoracotomy and lobectomy. The operation time ranged from 75 to 240 min (mean, 161 min), and blood loss ranged from 1 to 110 g( mean, 25 g). We used stapler in 29 patients and electrocautery in 17 patients to deviate inter segmental plane. Postoperative complications were seen in 6 patients (13%), major complication was air leakage in 6 patients. There was no in-hospital mortality. Only 1 patient had bone metastasis on 11 months after operation. Thoracoscopic segmentectomy considered to be a safe and feasible procedure for the selected patients with small-sized peripheral lung cancer.

The clinicopathological features associated with skip N2 metastases in patients with clinical stage IA non-small-cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Understanding the clinicopathological features of patients with skip N2 metastases (SN2) in clinical early stage lung cancer is important for surgical planning and other treatment considerations; however, the factors associated with SN2 are unclear. This study aimed to investigate the clinicopathological features associated with SN2 in patients with clinical stage IA (cIA) non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: We retrospectively studied patients with cIA NSCLC who underwent pulmonary resection (at least lobectomy) and extensive lymphadenectomy (more than ND2a-1) at our institution between January 2004 and December 2010. We investigated the following factors for their association with SN2: age; sex; tumour marker (carcinoembryonic antigen); tumour size on computed tomography (CT), evaluated with a lung-window (LW) and a mediastinal-window (MW) setting; pathology, with or without adenocarcinoma; differentiation; visceral pleural invasion (VPI) and vascular/lymphatic invasion. RESULTS: In total, 422 patients were enrolled, with the following pathological node (pN) statuses: 331 pN0 (78.4%), 39 pN1 (9.3%) and 52 pN2 (12.3%). There were 21 (23.1%) SN2 cases among the patients with nodal metastases. When the cut-off level was defined as a receiver operating characteristic curve with MW (11.5 mm), the sensitivity and specificity of SN2 was 95.2% and 42.9%, respectively. VPI was a statistically independent relevant factor for SN2 in both the patients with cIA and in those with nodal involvement. The VPI classification comprised 59 PL-0 (64.8%), 12 PL-1 (13.2%) and 20 PL-2 (22.0%) with nodal metastases, and there was a significant difference between the three groups (P = 0.03) according to SN2 frequency. There was no difference between VPI 1 and 2 (P = 0.27). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our study suggests that the incidence of SN2 is significantly associated with VPI in patients with cIA NSCLC. Although MW (>11.5 mm) had a low specificity in the assessment of SN2, it had a high sensitivity, suggesting the possibility of a superior benefit compared with LW. Standard hilar and mediastinal lymph node dissection should be required in patients with suspicious VPI and MW (>11.5 mm) on preoperative CT.

Two patients of left lung cancer with right aortic arch: review of eight patients.

We report two cases of left lung cancer in patients with variant right aortic arches. Preoperative heart examination ascertained that neither patient had congenital heart disease. Patient 1 exhibited a right aortic arch with mirror-image branching of the major arteries. The patient's clinical stage was T1aN0M0 stage IA. Patient 2 exhibited a right aortic arch with an aberrant left subclavian artery. The patient received induction chemotherapy for cT2aN2M0 stage IIIA adenocarcinoma of the lung. In patients with a right aortic arch undergoing surgery, especially mediastinal lymph node dissection, it is important to consider the anatomical displacement of the vagus and recurrent laryngeal nerves in addition to the vascular abnormalities. In this study, we found that preoperative identification of anomalous structures using three-dimensional computed tomography was particularly useful in evaluating the anatomical location and position of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve from an embryological point of view.