Factors related to post-thoracotomy pain following robotic-assisted thoracic surgery.

BACKGROUND: Robotic-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) is a minimally invasive procedure; however, some patients experience persistent postoperative pain. This study aimed to investigate factors related to postoperative pain following RATS. METHODS: The data of 145 patients with lung cancer, who underwent RATS with a four-port (one in the sixth intercostal space [ICS] and three in the eighth ICS) lobectomy or segmentectomy between May 2019 and December 2022, were retrospectively analyzed. Factors associated with analgesic use for at least 2 months following postoperative pain (PTP group) were analyzed. RESULTS: Patients who underwent preoperative pain control for any condition or chest wall resection were excluded. Among the 138 patients, 45 (32.6%) received analgesics for at least 2 months after surgery. Patient height and transverse length of the thorax correlated with PTP in the univariate analysis (non-PTP vs. PTP; height, 166 vs. 160 cm; p < .001; transverse length of the thorax, 270 vs. 260 mm, p = .016). In the multivariate analysis, height was correlated with PTP (p = .009; odds ratio, 0.907; 95% confidence interval, 0.843-0.976). Height correlated with the transverse length of the thorax (r = .407), anteroposterior length of the thorax (r = .294), and width of the eighth ICS in the middle axillary line (r = .210) using Pearson's correlation coefficients. When utilizing a 165-cm cutoff value for height to predict PTP using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the area under the curve was 0.69 (95% confidence interval, 0.601-0.779). CONCLUSION: Short stature is associated with a high risk of postoperative pain following RATS.

Chest wall tuberculosis: precision surgery with indigo carmine in limited cases for safe and intuitive lesion excision.

In addition to treatment with antituberculosis drugs, complete surgical excision is important for the cure of chest wall tuberculosis. However, surgery is often challenging to perform due to different factors such as the strong adhesion of tuberculous lesions to the surrounding normal tissue, growth of neovascularization and presence of fragile necrotic tissues. Firm adhesions, bleeding and fragile tissue make it difficult to determine the boundary with normal tissue and completely excide the lesion. Moreover, ingenuity is required. Herein, we report the identification of the boundary between the lesion and normal tissue by injecting indigo carmine into the abscess to completely excide the lesion, which is considered an intuitive and safe method.

Impact of a pneumatic surgical robot with haptic feedback function on surgical manipulation.

Although robotic-assisted surgery has the advantages of low patient burden and high precision without unsteady hand movements, the lack of tactile sensations may result in unexpected iatrogenic organ damage. The Saroa (Riverfield Inc., Tokyo, Japan) is a pneumatically driven robot that provides real-time haptic feedback to the surgeon. Using the Saroa robot, six examinees performed puffed rice transfer and four of them performed pig lung resection tasks with the feedback function turned on and off. The puffed rice transfer task consisted of transferring 20 grains of puffed rice from the left to the right compartment in the training box. The mean grasping forces during the puffed rice transfer task with the haptic feedback function turned off and on were 2.14 N and 0.63 N, respectively (P = 0.003). The mean grasping forces during the pig lung resection task were lower with the feedback turned on than turned off. The force that the forceps exerted on the grasping object was weaker in both tasks when the haptic feedback function was turned on, suggesting that the feedback function allows gentler handling of tissues, improving patient safety during robotic surgery.

Use of a radiofrequency identification system for precise sublobar resection of small lung cancers.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of sublobar resection is increasing because of the rise in the detection of small lung cancers. However, local recurrence needs to be addressed, and several methods are needed for the resection with secure margins of non-visible and non-palpable tumors. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the use of a radiofrequency identification (RFID) system in sublobar resection of adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA) at our institute. RESULTS: From June 2020 to June 2022, 39 patients underwent sublobar resection for AIS or MIA. The median age was 69 years (interquartile range, 64-76). Among the 39 patients, 24 were diagnosed with AIS and 15 with MIA. Segmentectomy, subsegmentectomy, and wedge resection were performed in nine, six, and 24 patients, respectively. The median size of the target tumor was 9.0 mm (8.1-12.9) and the median distance between the tag and the tumor was 2.9 mm (0-7.5). The median pathological surgical margin was 15.0 mm (10-17.5). Complete resection of all lesions was performed with a secure surgical margin. The median follow-up duration was 6 months, during which no local recurrence was detected in any of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: The RFID marking system accurately informed the surgeons of the tumor location and helped them to perform precise sublobar resection.

Elucidation of prognostic factors and the effect of anti-fibrotic therapy on waitlist mortality in lung transplant candidates with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias.

BACKGROUND: Lung transplantation (LTx) is the last resort for patients who fail to respond to drug therapy and progress to advanced idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs). However, more than one-third of patients registered for LTx face despair because of rapid disease progression and donor shortage. This study aimed to identify the risk factors of waitlist mortality in LTx candidates with IIPs and investigate the association of anti-fibrotic therapy with waitlist mortality. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated 56 patients with IIPs, including 29 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (51.7%) and 11 patients with idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (19.6%), registered for LTx at Fukuoka University Hospital between January 2006 and June 2020. The risk factors affecting transplantation-censored survival were evaluated. RESULTS: The waitlist mortality rate of patients with nonspecific interstitial pneumonia was significantly lower than that of others. Multivariate survival analysis using Cox's model identified a history of pneumothorax (P = 0.029) and short 6-min walk distance (6MWD) (P = 0.012) to be significant variables affecting waitlist mortality. Patients receiving anti-fibrotic therapy (n = 27, 48.2%) had a lower risk of pneumothorax (P = 0.017) and their 6MWD was longer than that of non-therapy patients (P < 0.001). The waitlist mortality rate of patients on anti-fibrotic therapy was significantly lower (P = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: History of pneumothorax and short 6MWD were independent predictors of waitlist mortality in LTx candidates with IIPs. The anti-fibrotic therapy may potentially reduce mortality in patients with IIPs on the waiting list for LTx.

Preoperative chest computed tomography evaluation for predicting intraoperative lung resection strongly depends on interpreters experience.

OBJECTIVES: Preoperative planning of lung resection extent is decisive for preoperative functional work-up and selection for multimodal treatment. It is mainly based on preoperative chest CT. We aimed at evaluating chest CT adequacy to predict the extent of lung resection and hypothesized a relation with CT interpreters' level of experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pseudonymized CT library was built from patients who had curative intent lung resection for centrally located NSCLC. CT library was interpreted by 20 thoracic surgery residents or attendings. Interpreters were blinded to intraoperative findings and scored one point when lung resection was adequately planned. Points were summed up in a score from 0 to 20. Interpreters' experience was evaluated through nine variables: age, position (resident vs. attending), years of experience in evaluating chest CTs, number of anatomic resections and sleeve resections attended as first assistant or performed as surgeon in presence of a teaching assistant or as main surgeon/teaching assistant. Variables characterizing interpreters' experience were divided into equal sized groups. Independent sample T-test and one-way ANOVA/Tukey post hoc tests were used to compare scores between groups. RESULTS: CT library included 20 patients. Lung resections were lobectomy (n = 7, 35 %), sleeve lobectomy (n = 10, 50 %), sleeve bilobectomy (n = 2, 10 %), pneumonectomy (n = 1, 5%). Twenty interpreters scored a median of 10 (4-14). Attending surgeons had significantly higher mean scores (11.2 ±â€¯1.3) compared to residents (7.7 ±â€¯2.3, p = 0.001). All scores were significantly different between groups related to interpreters' levels of experience, except for interpreters'age. CONCLUSION: Preoperative CT evaluation for predicting intraoperative lung resection for centrally located NSCLC strongly depends on interpreters' experience.

Long-term survival of thoracoscopic surgery compared with open surgery for clinical N0 adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is good candidate for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Long-term outcome compared between VATS and open surgery remains unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the long-term outcome of VATS in early stage adenocarcinoma. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed in 546 patients which were operated between January 2006 and December 2010 in our institute and of those, 240 (220 lobectomies, and 20 segmentectomies) were clinical N0 adenocarcinoma. One hundred and thirty-five patients underwent VATS and 105 patients for open surgery. Long-term oncological outcomes were compared in both groups. RESULTS: There were significant differences in age, gender, Blinkman index, clinical T factor and tumor size between two groups. VATS group showed statistically longer operation time (P=0.01), less blood loss (P=0.005), shorter length of stay (P=0.001), and less dissected number of lymph nodes (P<0.001) compared with open surgery. Disease-free survival in VATS was significantly better than open surgery (5- and 10-year survival; VATS, 91.4%, 79.0%; open, 85.1%, 73.6%; respectively, P=0.04). Overall survival in VATS was not different from open (P=0.58). Propensity matched disease-free and overall survival was not significantly different between two groups. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that age [P=0.04, 95% confidence interval (CI): (1.02-6.81)] in overall and T factor [P=0.01, 95% CI: (1.41-17.3)] in disease-free survival was prognostic significant after propensity matching. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that long-term outcome in VATS for early stage adenocarcinoma was equivalent to open surgery. VATS may be a treatment of choice for promising long-term prognosis.

Gastric Volvulus After Left Lower Lobectomy.

Gastric volvulus is a rare complication after pulmonary resection. To date, only eight cases of postpulmonary resection gastric volvulus have been reported in the English literature, and several of these patients underwent left pneumonectomy or had hiatal hernia. This report describes a case of postlobectomy gastric volvulus in a 73-year-old woman without hiatal hernia.

Acute limb ischemia of the lower extremity associated with left upper lobe surgery for primary lung cancer.

Thrombosis formation in the pulmonary vein stump after pulmonary lobectomy has recently been reported to be an extremely rare cause of arterial embolism. We herein report the first case series of acute limb ischemia encountered after video-assisted thoracoscopic left upper lobectomy or left upper division segmentectomy for primary lung cancer. The patients underwent embolectomy, and their perioperative courses were uneventful. It should be recognized that the pulmonary vein stump can cause acute limb ischemia after pulmonary lobectomy.

Totally thoracoscopic surgery and troubleshooting for bleeding in non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Although accumulating data support the feasibility and efficacy of video-assisted thoracic surgery anatomic resection, few studies have reported on intraoperative complications, such as vessel injury. The purpose of this study was to evaluate intraoperative vessel injury and to analyze troubleshooting. METHODS: Twenty-six of 557 patients with non-small cell lung cancer who underwent thoracoscopic anatomic lung resection were identified as having intraoperative vessel injury between January 2004 and December 2011. The injured portion, devices used, recovery approach, and hemostatic procedure were analyzed. The perioperative outcomes in patients with and without vessel injury were compared. RESULTS: The most commonly used devices were ultrasonic coagulation shears in 9 cases, followed by scissors in 5 and an endostapler in 4. Seventeen of the 26 cases were injured at the branches of the pulmonary artery, and the others were at major vessels. Half of the patients were converted to thoracotomy, and 6 were treated by minithoracotomy. Hemostatic procedures were primary closure in 17 and sealant in 7. The perioperative outcomes, including operative time and blood loss, were significantly different between the two groups, but duration of chest tube drainage, length of hospital stay, and morbidity rate were not. No mortality was identified in the patients with vessel injury. CONCLUSIONS: Video-assisted thoracic surgery anatomic resection was feasible and safe, regardless of the intraoperative vessel injury. Although surgeons should pay attention to avoid unexpected bleeding, the magnitude of injury and effectual step-by-step management should lead to a safe operation.

Contralateral mediastinal lymph node micrometastases assessed by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in stage I non-small cell left lung cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Survival of patients with left-sided stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unsatisfactory, probably because of the high incidence of contralateral mediastinal node involvement. In this study, occult micrometastases to the right upper mediastinal nodes were retrospectively investigated in patients with left-sided stage I NSCLC. METHODS: Nineteen patients with clinical stage I NSCLC underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy and bilateral mediastinal node dissection (BMD). Clinical data and survival of patients with BMD were compared with those of 25 left-unilateral mediastinal node dissection (UMD) patients. Occult micrometastases were detected using the cytokeratin 19 mRNA reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction method. RESULTS: Pathological N2 disease was found in 1 patient, and 18 had pN0 disease. The operative time, blood loss, duration of chest tube drainage and duration of postoperative hospital stay were not different between BMD and UMD patients. Nodal micrometastases were detected in 11/19 (57.8%) patients. Skip micrometastases to the level N3 nodes without N1 and N2 node involvement were observed in 8/11 (72.7%) patients. Patients with BMD are all alive and have had no recurrence during the median follow-up period of 21.4 months. Overall 3-year survival and disease-free 3-year survival were not significantly different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: In this preliminary study, occult micrometastases to the level N3 nodes occurred frequently in patients with left-sided clinical N0 stage I NSCLC. Postoperative survival of patients with occult micrometastases to the level N3 node does not appear to be poor. Further follow-up and work are needed.

Successful application of subcutaneous adipose tissue with fibrin glue in conservative treatment of tracheobronchial rupture.

An 84-year-old woman underwent aortic and mitral valve replacement. After weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass, hemorrhage was observed in the endobronchial tube. The bleeding bronchus was isolated to protect the airway using the blocker cuff of a Univent tube (Fuji Systems Corp, Tokyo, Japan). Computed tomography showed a pulmonary pseudoaneurysm in the left upper lobe. She underwent selective pulmonary angiography and embolization of the pseudoaneurysm. Bronchoscopy revealed a 5-mm bronchial rupture at the left upper lobe bronchus. The laceration was filled with adipose tissue and fibrin glue. Bronchoscopy showed a completely reepithelialized membrane, and she was discharged 38 days postoperatively.

Bronchial stump aspergillosis after stapled lobectomy for lung cancer.

Aspergillus causes several pulmonary complications, but bronchial stump aspergillosis (BSA) is very rare. To date, 31 cases of bronchial stump aspergillosis have been reported in the English, German, and Japanese literature. The bronchial stump was closed by hand-sewn suturing in most cases, but we report herein two cases of BSA that developed after stapled closure of the bronchial stump.

Serum level of HE4 is closely associated with pulmonary adenocarcinoma progression.

The human epididymis 4 (HE4) protein is expressed in the epididymis and respiratory tract. We previously reported that HE4 is also expressed in pulmonary adenocarcinoma. The purpose of this study was to investigate serum levels of HE4 as a biological marker in pulmonary adenocarcinoma. As the trained set, 102 patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma who underwent surgery in our institute from 2008 to 2011 were evaluated. They were compared with 58 healthy controls and 16 cases of benign lung disease. In the validation, we used 104 patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma operated on between 2000 and 2007. Postoperative changes of serum HE4 levels were investigated in 35 patients. The level of HE4 was determined by enzyme immunometric assay and compared with clinicopathological factors. In the trained set, HE4 levels in sera in pulmonary adenocarcinoma were significantly higher than in healthy controls and benign lung disease. Receiver operating characteristic curve showed that HE4 was a good discriminator of pulmonary adenocarcinoma (cut-off point, 50.3 pM; area under curve, 0.825; 95 % confidence interval, 0.76-0.89, p < 0.001). In the validation set, serum HE4 levels were significantly correlated with age, nodal status, and carcinoembryonic antigen. Furthermore, postoperative increase of HE4 serum levels showed a significant correlation with recurrence (p = 0.032). The 5-year overall survival rate was 52.6 % in the HE4-positive group compared with 97.1 % in the HE4-negative group (p = 0.001). These data showed that HE4 expression in sera is associated with progression of pulmonary adenocarcinoma and a possible biomarker.

Incidentally discovered primary malignant melanoma of the trachea.

Primary malignant melanoma of the trachea is extremely rare. We report here the first case of primary tracheal malignant melanoma in the asymptomatic stage. Incidentally, this 73-year-old man was found to have a flat tumor at the upper trachea on chest computed tomography scans. The tumor was surgically resected with end-to-end anastomosis and was diagnosed to be primary malignant melanoma of the trachea. Four months after the surgical resection, cervical lymph node metastasis was found. Despite the resection of metastatic lymph nodes and six courses of chemotherapy, he died of cachexia approximately two years after the discovery of the tracheal tumor.

Thoracoscopic segmentectomy for T1 classification of non-small cell lung cancer: a single center experience.

OBJECTIVES: Segmentectomy is one of the treatment options for small-sized non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although growing results support the feasibility and efficacy, it still remains unclear in segmentectomy. The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer recommended a revised classification of TNM staging in 2009 (the seventh edition) and multidisciplinary classification of adenocarcinoma. We report here the outcome of totally thoracoscopic segmentectomy and lobectomy for T factor and adenocarcinoma. METHODS: Ninety patients with Stage IA NSCLC underwent thoracoscopic segmentectomy between September 2003 and June 2011. A total of 124 patients were referred as a control group to compare the peri-operative outcome, local recurrence rate and survival. These survivals were analysed using the Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test and propensity score analyses. RESULTS: The peri-operative outcome, including operative time, blood loss, duration of chest tube drainage and length of hospital stay, was not significantly different between groups. The number of dissected lymph nodes with segmentectomy was less than that with lobectomy. Morbidity and mortality were not significantly different between groups. Seven patients relapsed in each group and propensity score analysis in disease-free and overall survivals showed no differences between two groups in Stage IA. Subclass analyses revealed that disease-free and overall survivals in T1a and T1b were not significantly different between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that thoracoscopic segmentectomy was feasible with regard to peri-operative and oncological outcomes for Stage IA NSCLC, especially T1a and carefully selected T1b descriptor.

Sentinel node navigation surgery by thoracoscopic fluorescence imaging system and molecular examination in non-small cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE: The application of sentinel node navigation surgery in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not popular because of the difficulty of sentinel node identification and the low incidence of complications after systemic lymph node dissection. We report the intraoperative assessment of sentinel node metastasis by thoracoscopic ICG fluorescence imaging system and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). METHODS: Sixty-one patients who underwent surgery between January 2009 and December 2010 were investigated for sentinel node biopsy. ICG fluorescence imaging was applied by an infrared light CCD system, and sentinel nodes were identified and dissected. Intraoperative real-time quantitative RT-PCR to determine the expression of cytokeratin 19 (CK-19) was performed for evaluation of metastasis and finally histologic examination of hematoxylin and eosin-stained, paraffin-embedded sections. RESULTS: Sixteen (80%) of 20 patients with segmentectomy and 33 (80.5%) of 41 with lobectomy were identified for sentinel lymph nodes. The total identification rate was 80.3% (49 of 61). The false-negative rate was 2.1% (1 of 49). The overall accuracy rate was 78.7% (48 of 61 patients). Disease of four of these patients was upstaged to stage IIA by RT-PCR for CK-19 expression, which was positive for sentinel nodes and micrometastases. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrated that thoracoscopic ICG fluorescence imaging-guided surgery and real-time quantitative RT-PCR were useful for sentinel node biopsy and might be a powerful tool for more focused pathologic or molecular evaluation for staging.

Splice variant HE4-V3 expression is associated with favorable prognosis in pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

The human epididymis 4 (HE4) gene product, also known as whey-acidic-protein four-disulfide core domain protein 2, was identified as the transcript expressed in the epididymis and respiratory tract. HE4 is also expressed in lung adenocarcinoma. We investigated mRNA expressions of full-length HE4 and splice variants in lung adenocarcinoma, and the clinical impact of these genes was evaluated. One hundred and fifty-two patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma underwent surgery in our institute from 2000 to 2008. We employed immunohistochemical analysis to determine the expression of HE4 and molecular analysis to evaluate full-length HE4 or splice variant gene expression in pulmonary adenocarcinoma. All of the 152 cases were full-length HE4 mRNA-positive; 88 of the 152 (57.9%) were HE4-V1-positive, and 140 of the 152 (92.1%) were HE4-V3-positive. Regarding the relationship between the clinicopathological characteristics of patients and these gene expressions, the histological subtype, tumor size, and vascular invasion were significantly associated with HE4-V3 expression. HE4-V3 expression was also closely correlated with the prognosis. The 5-year disease-free survival in the HE4-V3 high expression group showed a significantly favorable prognosis compared with the low expression group (p = 0.02). The 5-year overall survival rate in the HE4-V3 high expression group was significantly higher than in the HE4-V3 low expression group (p = 0.028). These data showed that high-level HE4-V3 expression is associated with a favorable prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma. Further investigation of HE4 splice variants may offer a new insight into this possibility.

Thoracoscopic segmentectomy with intraoperative evaluation of sentinel nodes for stage I non-small cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Segmentectomy is the treatment of choice for small-sized non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, it is difficult to decide the surgical procedure because accurate evaluation of hilar lymph node metastasis remains unclear. We here report the outcome of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) segmentectomy with and without the assessment of sentinel nodes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-three patients with stage IA NSCLC underwent VATS segmentectomy between January 2003 and December 2010. Twenty patients underwent indocyanine green fluorescence imaging for sentinel node biopsy (SNB) and 63 did not. Intraoperative real-time quantitative RT-PCR to determine the expression of CK-19 was used for evaluation of metastasis. Perioperative outcome, local recurrence rates and survival were compared in both groups. RESULTS: Sentinel lymph nodes were identified in 16 of 20 patients (80%) with segmentectomy in the SNB group. The false negative rate was 0%. By RT-PCR for CK-19 expression, only one of these patients showed positive sentinel nodes, which indicated isolated tumor cells; however, segmentectomy was not converted to lobectomy. Seven of 63 patients with VATS segementectomy without SNB and none of the SNB group relapsed. In the relapsed patients without SNB, 4 (6.3%) were local recurrences and 3 (4.7%) were distant metastases. Recurrence-free survival rates in both groups were not significantly different because of the short follow-up period of the SNB group. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that VATS segmentectomy with SNB was useful for deciding intraoperatively to perform segmentectomy with an accurate lymph node status.