Although the majority of patients with atrial fibrillation and an indication for non-pharmacological therapy is treated with catheter ablation, thoracoscopic surgery is an emerging technique that aims at combining the results of the classic Cox Maze operation with a less invasive approach. Recurrences after thoracoscopic surgery have been mainly ascribed to incomplete ablation lines, but litera...

OBJECTIVE The authors reported the feasibility and safety of thoracoscopic approach for resection of the esophagus in two patients with diffuse corrosive esophageal stricture. BACKGROUND The unrelenting corrosive strictures of esophagus merit esophageal substitution. Because of the risk of complications in the retained esophagus, such as malignancy, mucocele, gastroesophageal reflux, and blee...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective. PURPOSE To determine how the indications for anterior thoracoscopic release and fusion have evolved over time. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Anterior release was commonly performed to correct severe spinal deformities before the advent of pedicle screw fixation. The thoracoscopic approach significantly reduced the morbidity, as compared to open thoracotomy procedures. ...

This paper presents a graph-based segmentation method using multiple criteria in successive stages to segment thoracoscopic images acquired during a diskectomy procedure commonly used for thoracoscopic anterior release and fusion for scoliosis treatment. Starting with image pre-processing, including Gaussian smoothing, brightness and contrast enhancement, and histogram thresholding, a standard ...

BACKGROUND Posterior spinal fusion with segmental instrumentation is the gold standard for the surgical treatment of thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. More recently, anterior surgery and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery with spinal instrumentation have become available. The purpose of the present study was to compare the radiographic and clinical outcomes as well as pulmonary functi...

BACKGROUND With advances in minimally invasive surgery, thoracoscopic repair of oesophageal atresia has become popular in many centres worldwide and indeed has been described as the pinnacle of neonatal surgery. Here, we report our experience in two tertiary referral centres. METHODS Thoracoscopic technique was introduced in 2007. Thus, a retrospective review of all patients diagnosed with oe...

BACKGROUND To show the safety and stability of a spiral wire needle (Somatex; Rietzneuendorf, Germany) in the detection and subsequent thoracoscopic resection of subpleural and/or small nodules of the lung. METHODS Under local anesthesia and CT control, 13 patients underwent the positioning of a spiral wire needle into the lung, with the spiral located close to or inside the nodule to be rese...

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was introduced nearly 2 decades ago and has experienced an exponential increase for lung cancer treatment. A pneumonectomy can be performed by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and the lung usually fits through the incision as usually used for VATS lobectomy. The most common approach for pneumonectomy is undertaken with 3 or 4 incisions, including ...

Primary tracheal tumor is a disease with low morbidity and poor prognosis. Surgical resection the main treatment. It difficult to treat tumors, while involving reconstruction operations are more complicated. We report case of patient. The large was located above carina opening left bronchus. lumen bronchus significantly narrowed. patient received thoracoscopic-assisted under general anesthesia....

Uncontrollable bleeding caused by vascular injury is an important reason for conversion to thoracotomy during thoracoscopic lung surgery. Demmy et al. (1) summarized several effective methods for dealing with bleeding, such as the use of thrombostatic material, biological sealant, or discreet utilization of energy sources. However, managing more severe bleeding is quite challenging even for exp...