ObjectiveTo summarize the clinical experience of the uniportal thoracoscopic anatomical sub-segmentectomy of the basal segment. MethodsThe clinical data of 34 patients who underwent uniportal thoracoscopic anatomical sub-segmentectomy of the basal segment in our department between April 2018 and April 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 19 males and 15 females with a median age of 56.5 (28.0-76.0) years, a 3-4 cm incision was made in the 5th intercostal area at the front axillary line, and anatomical sub-segmentectomy of the basal segment was performed. Results The surgery was successfully performed in all patients, and there was no patient with additional chest incision or transfer to thoracotomy. The median operation time was 165.0 (125.0-220.0) min, intraoperative blood loss was 120.0 (70.0-290.0) mL, thoracic drainage time was 3.5 (2.0-24.0) d, and hospitalization time was 6.0 (3.0-26.0) d. There was no death during the hospitalization. Postoperative complications included 4 patients of atrial fibrillation, 2 patients of blood sputum, 3 patients of persistent air leakage, and they were recovered after conservative treatment. One patient developed pneumothorax after discharge, 1 patient developed pleural effusion, and both of them recovered after drainage. Postoperative pathology showed microinvasive adenocarcinoma in 22 patients, adenocarcinoma in situ in 7 patients, benign tumors in 5 patients. The lymph nodes were negative in all patients. Conclusion The uniportal thoracoscopic anatomical sub-segmentectomy of the basal segment is safe and feasible, and can be popularized and applied in clinic.
Objective To investigate the significance of spread through air spaces (STAS) in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing either sublobar resection or lobectomy by pooling evidence available, and to assess the accuracy of frozen sections in determining types of resection among patients with suspected presence of STAS. MethodsStudies were identified by searching databases including PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library from inception to July 2022. Two researchers independently searched, screened, evaluated literature, and extracted data. Statistical analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.4 and STATA 15.0. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to evaluate the quality of the study. ResultsA total of 26 studies involving 23 surgical related studies (12 266 patients) were included, among which, 11 compared the outcomes of lobectomy with sublobar resection in the STAS-positive patients. NOS score≥6 points. Meta-analysis indicated that presence of STAS shortened patients' survival in both lobectomy group and sublobar resection group (RFS: HR=2.27, 95%CI 1.96-2.63, P＜0.01; OS: HR=2.08, 95%CI 1.74-2.49, P＜0.01). Moreover, lobectomy brought additional survival benefits to STAS-positive patients compared with sublobar resection (RFS: HR=1.97, 95%CI 1.59-2.44, P＜0.01; OS: HR=1.91, 95%CI 1.47-2.48, P＜0.01). Four studies were included to assess the accuracy of identifying presence of STAS on intraoperative frozen sections, of which the pooled sensitivity reached 55% (95%CI 45%-64%), the pooled specificity reached 92% (95%CI 77%-97%), and the pooled area under the curve was 0.68 (95%CI 0.64-0.72) based on the data available. Conclusion This study confirms that presence of STAS is a critical risk factor for patients with early-stage NSCLC. Lobectomy should be recommended as the first choice when presence of STAS is identified on frozen sections, as lobectomy can prolong patients' survival compared with sublobar resection in STAS-positive disease. The specificity of identifying STAS on frozen sections seems to be satisfactory, which may be helpful in determining types of resection. However, more robust methods are urgently in need to make up for the limited sensitivity and accuracy of frozen sections.