Background: The objectives of our study are to evaluate our surgical experience of mediastinal bronchogenic cyst (MBC) and to determine the results of resection by video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and posterolateral thoracotomy (PLT).
Methods: The demographic characteristics, clinical and radiological features intraoperative data, outcomes and fol- low-up information were reviewed and analyzed from 38 patients who underwent resection of a MBC between 2008 and 2019.
Results: cystectomy was performed for thirty eight patients included in the present study. Seventeen of them, benefited from VATS cystectomy (VATS group) with 1 conversion to thoracotomy (5.9%) and 21 underwent PLT cystectomy (PLT group). In our series 27 (71.1%) were male. Their average age was 42.6 years. While 09 patients (23.7%) had no symptoms pre-operatively, 29 patients (76.3%) were symptomatic. There were no operative deaths and 3 patients (7.9%) presented postoperative complications. The average duration of hospital stay was 3.2 days for patients who had VATS, but 5.8 days for those who had thoracotomy. Long-term follow-up (range, 1 to 8 years) showed no late complications and no recurrence.
Conclusion: VATS and PLT are main approaches for the surgical resection of MBCs VATS is a safe procedure, with less pain and time spent at the hospital. Early surgical procedures of MBCs may be recommended to prevent complications. Surgical adhesions are unfavorable conditions to thoracoscopic treatment.