Application of three-dimensional reconstruction combined with dial positioning in small pulmonary nodules surgery

BACKGROUND: With the popularization of HRCT and VATS, the incidence of early stage lung cancer is increasing recent years. About 63% of small pulmonary nodules can not be accurately identified in VATS. We use 3-D reconstruction combined with dial positioning to analyze its accuracy and impact on patients undergoing VATS in our hospital. METHOD: All patients underwent HRCT scanning and 3-D reconstruction preoperatively to determine the scope of surgery. The precise positional relationship between the nodule and the nearest rib must be recorded. Locate the plane of pulmonary nodule on CT, rotate the plane to make the affected side upwards, take the highest point of pleura as 12 o'clock on the dial, record the corresponding point of the nodule meticulously, mark the pulmonary nodule on the skin of the patient. A 18G indwelling needle was used to puncture through the marker into the visceral pleura. Electrocautery mark was made on the bleeding point of the lung surface. Then wedge resection or segmental resection was made. MATERIALS AND RESULT: From September 2019 to December 2020, 74 patients underwent VATS pulmonary nodule resection in our institute, with an average age of (56.4 ± 11.7) years old. A total of 83 nodules were resected in 74 patients, 23 nodules received segmentectomy and 60 nodules received wedge resection with 16 benign nodules and 67 malignant nodules. The distance between the nodules and pleura was (0–25) mm, with an average of (8.0 ± 3.9) mm. The target nodules were found in all patients, the positioning accuracy was 97.6%. All patients were satisfied with the positioning method, and there was no scar left at the skin puncture point after operation. CONCLUSION: 3-D reconstruction combined with dial positioning method can reduce patients' anxiety preoperatively, avoid various complications, reduce hospitalization expenses, and has an acceptable accuracy and short learning curve, which can be further promoted and applied in clinic.