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.
ObjectiveTo investigate whether adjuvant therapy can bring survival benefits to patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who have received neoadjuvant therapy plus esophagectomy. MethodsStudies were identified by searching databases including PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library and CNKI from inception to November 2022 to collect studies which conformed to the objective of this study. Clinical outcomes including overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were extracted from eligible studies after screening. RevMan 5.4 and Stata 14.0 were used to perform the meta-analysis. ResultsA total of 9 studies were selected including 1 340 patients. Compared with the neoadjuvant therapy plus surgery (NS) group, the neoadjuvant therapy plus surgery+adjuvant therapy (NS+A) group had no significant benefit in the OS [HR=0.88, 95%CI (0.75, 1.02), P=0.09], but had remarkable benefit in the RFS [HR=0.75, 95%CI (0.58, 0.97), P=0.03]. Subgroup analysis by nodal status showed that adjuvant therapy could improve the RFS of patients with node-positive disease. Prolonged OS was observed in the patients with both positive and negative nodes but not in the patients with only positive nodes. In terms of the subgroup analysis by prescription, it revealed that triple agents exhibited advantages in improving RFS but not OS. However, dual agents did not bring additional survival benefits to the NS+A group compared with the NS group. Subgroup analysis by adjuvant therapy indicated that neither postoperative chemoradiotherapy nor chemotherapy improved OS, whereas postoperative chemoradiation elongated RFS. ConclusionAdjuvant therapy can improve the prognosis of patients with ESCC after neoadjuvant therapy followed by esophagectomy.