Several options are available for treatment of malignant pleural effusions in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. Repeat thoracentesis may be appropriate for the patient with limited survival and a slowly recurrent effusion. Pleurodesis with a sclerosing agent administered via a chest tube is the most widely used therapy, though controversy exists as to which drug produces the best result...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Thoracoscopic-assisted ventral stabilisation for thoracolumbar fractures has been shown to be associated with decreased recovery time and less morbidity when compared with open procedures. However, there are a limited number of studies evaluating late clinical and radiological results after thoracoscopic spinal surgery. METHODS We performed an analysis of the late outco...

PURPOSE To evaluate the feasibility of internal mammary lymphatic chain dissection by thoracoscopic surgery. MATERIAL AND METHODS Thirty-two breast cancer women were involved in this pilot study, who were with lesion located at central area or internal quadrant, or with cN2 or cN3 ALNs, or with T4 tumor, or indicating IMNs drainage by preoperative lymphoscintigraphy, but without distant metas...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary nodules may require thoracoscopic resection in cases where percutaneous needle aspiration (PCNA) is non-diagnostic or not technically feasible. We developed a new protocol to localize pulmonary nodules concomitantly with PCNA. We retrospectively reviewed the use of concomitant PCNA and preoperative localization under computed tomography (CT) guidance. METHODS From Jan 200...

OBJECTIVE Traditionally vascular rings in infants and children are treated through an open thoracotomy. Recently, thoracoscopic surgery has been used for these complex procedures. This study reports our early experience with thoracoscopic division of vascular rings and evaluates the efficacy and safety of this approach. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients who underwent thoracoscopic division of vas...

OBJECTIVE The goal of this retrospective study was to evaluate the outcomes of bilateral video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomy for primary hyperhydrosis. METHODS Between January 2007 and December 2011, a total of 335 patients (192 male, 143 female, mean age 28.3 years) who underwent bilateral thoracoscopic sympathectomy for primary hyperhydrosis were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS H...

BACKGROUND Primary hyperhidrosis is characterized by excessive sweating beyond physiological needs. It is a common disease (incidence 2.8%) that causes intense discomfort for patients. In the last decade, advantages of Single-Incision Thoracoscopic Sympathectomy have become clear, particularly in decreasing morbidity of sympathectomy. PATIENTS AND METHODS From January 2010 to December 2012, 3...

INTRODUCTION Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common clinically relevant arrhythmia and it is strongly associated with stroke. Left atrial appendage (LAA) is considered to be the most often source of thrombotic material. In recent decades a number surgical, percutaneous and hybrid approaches for LAA occlusion have been described revealing very different level of success and showing a variet...

OBJECTIVE In lung resection, thoracoscopy has been mainly used for wedge resection and lobectomy. There have been very few reports on pulmonary segmentectomy, mainly because of its complex nature. The present report evaluates the safety and efficacy of thoracoscopic pulmonary segmentectomy for the treatment of benign lung diseases or small lung carcinomas. METHODS The study involved 30 patien...