Experiences of Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery in Trauma

Noh,  Dongsub; Lee,  Chan kyu; Hwang,  Jung Joo; Cho,  Hyun Min

doi:2017.30.3.87

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Original Article

Journal of Trauma and Injury 2017;30(3):87-90.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20408/jti.2017.30.3.87 Published online October 30, 2017.

Experiences of Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery in Trauma

Dongsub Noh, Chan kyu Lee, Jung Joo Hwang, Hyun Min Cho

¹Department of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Korea. csking1@daum.net
²Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.

Received: 10 May 2017 • Revised: 7 July 2017 • Accepted: 8 July 2017

Abstract

PURPOSE
Nowadays, Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) is widely used for its benefits, low post-operative pain, excellent anesthetic result and complete visualization of intrathoracic organs. Despite of these advantages, VATS has not yet been widely used in trauma patients. In this study, we aimed to investigate the usefulness of VATS in the chest trauma area.
METHODS
From January 2016 to December 2016, 203 patients underwent surgical treatment for chest trauma. Their medical records were analyzed retrospectively.
RESULTS
Eleven patients underwent thoracic surgery by VATS. Six patients were unstable vital sign in the emergency room. Two patients underwent emergency surgery and the rest patients underwent planned surgery. The common surgeries were VATS hematoma evacuation and wedge resection. There was no conversion to thoracotomy. The surgery proceeded without any problems for all patients.
CONCLUSIONS
VATS would be an effective diagnostic and therapeutic modality in chest trauma patients. It can be applied to retained hemothorax, persistent pneumothorax, suspicious diaphragm injury and even coagulation of bleeder.

Key Words: Thoracic injuries; Video-assisted thoracic surgery

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