Short- and long-term outcomes of thoracoscopic pneumonectomy – single center experience

INTRODUCTION: The video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) approach is widely used for pulmonary lobectomy, but its application for pneumonectomy is much less common and outcomes are ambiguous. AIM: To evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of VATS pneumonectomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 19 patients with the mean age of 62.6 ±5.5 years who were qualified for VATS pneumonectomy between September 1, 2010, and January 31, 2020. Indications and technical aspects were analyzed. Moreover, short- and long-term outcomes were assessed. RESULTS: There were no intraoperative deaths. Conversion to thoracotomy was necessary in 2 (10.5%) patients, because of bleeding in 1 patient and technical reasons in another. One patient died during the in-hospital period due to multi-organ failure as a result of bronchopleural fistula. Five other subjects developed postoperative complications, most often atrial fibrillation (n = 3). One patient was readmitted for empyema of the postpneumonectomy space without bronchopleural fistula. Histopathological examination revealed that the resection was complete (R0) in all cases and the most common type of cancer was squamous cell carcinoma (79%). Seven patients died during the follow-up: 1 because of surgical complications, 4 as a result of cancer progression, and 2 for non-cancer related reasons. Median survival was 47 months. One- and five-year probability of survival estimated by means of the Kaplan-Meier method was 0.88 ±0.07 and 0.43 ±0.15, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: VATS pneumonectomy can be performed safely, without increased risk of intraoperative and postoperative complications. It enables a complete lung cancer resection and is likely to provide good short- and long-term outcomes.