Introduction: Thoracoscopic lobectomy for primary lung cancer is performed at many institutions. However, few reports are available on postoperative prognosis for progressive stages. In 2004, we adopted lobectomy by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), which would be applicable to the clinical stages up to stage IIIA. This study reports long-term outcomes of surgery for primary lung cancer at several stages, including IIIA.
Methods: We compared the long-term outcomes of 315 VATS cases with those of 159 open thoracotomy cases.
Results: The overall 5-year survival rate was 78.1% for the VATS group and 61.9% for the open thoracotomy group. A statistically significant difference between the survival curves of the two groups was observed (P = .001). When analyzing the survival curves for both groups by pathological (p) stage, significant differences were observed for p-stages IB and IIIA, with the VATS group producing better results than the open thoracotomy group.
Conclusion: The long-term outcomes of patients with primary lung cancer at our institution were more favorable in the group undergoing VATS lobectomy than in the group undergoing open thoracotomy.
Keywords: primary lung cancer; prognosis; thoracoscopic surgery.
© 2020 Asia Endosurgery Task Force and Japan Society of Endoscopic Surgery and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.