In the domain of respiratory
surgery minimally invasive approaches are currently being used and video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is one of these methods. However VATS has some problems in its use for malignant
lung diseases for example, with VATS adequate
lymph node dissection and continuation of lobectomy in cases with severe adhesion are both difficult. In consideration of these points, limited
thoracotomy has been practiced for treatment of
lung cancer in our hospital. This study made comparisons between this new method (group A) and the conventional standard
thoracotomy (group B). For the limited
thoracotomy group (A) the skin incision and amount of
bleeding were smaller than for the standard
thoracotomy group (B) and the operation time was shorten. All limited
thoracotomy group patients could lift up and move the hand of the affected side without
pain immediately after the operation. The limited
thoracotomy is an excellent approach as a curative operation for
lung cancer, for preservation of post-operative pulmonary function, for movement capacity of the hand of the affected side and from the cosmetic viewpoint.