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Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgical Thymectomy to Treat Early Thymoma: A Comparison with the Conventional Transsternal Approach

  • Thoracic Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

For thymoma, the feasibility of resection via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) remains controversial. The objective of our study was to compare the outcomes of VATS and transsternal thymectomy in order to evaluate the efficacy of the VATS method for treatment of early stage thymoma.

Methods

This study is a retrospective study of 120 patients who underwent thymectomy of early stage thymoma (Masaoka stage I and II) in a single medical center from 1991 to 2010. Of these patients, 76 patients underwent VATS thymectomy (VATS group) and 44 patients underwent the conventional transsternal approach (sternotomy group). We applied the Kaplan–Meier method to estimate overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and time to tumor recurrence (TTR) of these two groups.

Results

The mean follow-up time was 61.9 months in the VATS group and 69.7 months in the sternotomy group. There was no surgery-related mortality or major complication. The VATS group had smaller specimen size (p < 0.05) and tumor size (p < 0.01), shorter length of stay (LOS) in the hospital (p < 0.01), and shorter duration of chest tube drainage (p < 0.05) than the sternotomy group. There were no significant differences between the two groups for OS, RFS, and TTR.

Conclusions

In early stage thymoma, VATS thymectomy associated with shorter hospital LOS and shorter duration of pleural drainage compared with the conventional transsternal approach. Otherwise, the two approaches had similar oncologic outcomes during the mean 60-month follow-up period.

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH.102-S2140), the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI-EX102-10032BI), and the National Science Council (NSC101-2314-B002-020-MY3) of the Republic of China.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Tom J. Liu MD, Mong-Wei Lin MD, Ming-Wei Kao MD, Ke-Cheng Chen MD, Chin-Chih Chang MD, Shuenn-Wen Kuo MD, Pei-Ming Huang MD, Hsao-Hsun Hsu MD, Jin-Shing Chen MD, PhD, Hong-Shiee Lai MD, PhD & Jang-Ming Lee MD, PhD

  2. Department of Pathology, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Min-Shu Hsieh MD

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  1. Tom J. Liu MD
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  2. Mong-Wei Lin MD
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  3. Min-Shu Hsieh MD
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  4. Ming-Wei Kao MD
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  5. Ke-Cheng Chen MD
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  6. Chin-Chih Chang MD
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  9. Hsao-Hsun Hsu MD
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  10. Jin-Shing Chen MD, PhD
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  11. Hong-Shiee Lai MD, PhD
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  12. Jang-Ming Lee MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jang-Ming Lee MD, PhD.

Additional information

Mong-Wei Lin and Min-Shu Hsieh have contributed equally to this article, and both should be considered second authors.

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Liu, T.J., Lin, MW., Hsieh, MS. et al. Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgical Thymectomy to Treat Early Thymoma: A Comparison with the Conventional Transsternal Approach. Ann Surg Oncol 21, 322–328 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-013-3228-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-013-3228-7

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