Video-assisted thoracoscopic right lower lobectomy: the Tianjin Chest Hospital experience

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is now well established as an alternative to open thoracotomy for major pulmonary resections of bronchogenic carcinoma and benign disease. More than 900 VATS major pulmonary resections have been performed in our center over the last 5 years and we here describe our method for VATS right lower lobectomy. In our center, procedures is performed with 3 incisions. For right lower lobes, the patient is placed into the left lateral position. The inferior pulmonary vein is dissected and divided with an endoscopic vascular stapler. The pulmonary artery branches to right lower lobe are divided with endoscopic staplers, and the lower lobe bronchus is divided at last. Throughout the procedure, hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes are dissected and removed in NSCLC. According to our experience, VATS is safe and feasible in thoracotomy for major pulmonary resections.