Assisted-VATS Sleeve Lobectomy for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Sleeve lobectomy is removal of a portion of a main stem bronchus in continuity with the adjacent lobe or bilobe followed by end-to-end bronchial anastomosis. The first reported bronchial sleeve resection was performed in 1947 at the Brompton Hospital in London, England, by Sir Clement Price Thomas. Whether sleeve resection is radical enough and indicated for patients who could tolerate pneumonectomy continues to be debated, although many recent reports have suggested that sleeve resection can achieve adequate curability rates. However, sleeve lobectomy has a definite role in the surgical management of lung cancer for patients whose pulmonary reserve is considered inadequate to permit pneumonectomy, and should be used anytime it is possible to achieve a margin-negative (R0) resection. Although video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is regarded as a minimally invasive procedure with good long-term survival results, many surgeons think that VATS is too complex and has too many technical limitations to be applied to bronchoplasty. Therefore, there are few reports in the literature of VATS bronchoplasty for lung cancer. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of assisted-VATS (video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery) sleeve lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer for non-small cell lung cancer. Success is defined as assisted-VATS sleeve lobectomy without conversion. If success rate over 90%, assisted-VATS sleeve lobectomy is considered as feasible procedures for non-small cell lung cancer.