Uniportal video assisted thoracic surgery is associated with better postoperative outcome

Background:

Uniportal video assisted thoracic surgery is one of the most recent innovations in the field of thoracic Surgery. We report the postoperative outcome of UVATS Surgery in once center.

Material and method:

A total number of 100 Patients who received either uniportal (UVATS) or multiportal VATS (MVATS) surgery were recruited. Blood samples were collected on postoperative days (POD) 1, 2 and 3. Postoperative clinical data was documented daily.

Result:

Surgeries were conducted successfully in all patients with no mortality during the perioperative period. Patients who underwent UVATS Surgery were associated with lower postoperative pain (p < 0.05) and were early mobilized as compare MVATS. There was no difference in the postoperative levels of leukocytes or C-reactive protein (p = 0.032), the duration of the operation, number of lymph nodes retrieved or blood loss when both groups were compared. UVATS was associated with lower amount of evacuated fluid over the postoperative course (411 ± 190 ml on POD 1, 374 ± 260 ml on POD 2 and 300 ± 150 ml on POD 3 as compared to 460 ± 315 ml, 510 ± 270 ml and 475 ± 190 ml for MVATS respectively) as well as shorter chest tube duration (5 ± 2 days) as compared to MVATS (6 ± 3 days). Patients were more stratified regarding the cosmetic outcome of UVATS.

Conclusion:

UVATS surgery is safe, practicable and is associated with lower amount of drained fluid, shorter drain duration, thus reduces the length of hospital stay. Moreover, UVATS is associated with better cosmetic outcome.