Coil localization assisted wedge resection for pulmonary nodules in patients with malignant history

We describe the clinical efficacy of coil localization (CL) assisted video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) wedge resection (WR) for pulmonary nodules (PNs) in patients having a history of malignancy. In a total of 16 patients having PNs and malignant history, treatment was carried out using computed tomography (CT)-guided CL and subsequent VATS-guided WR procedures from November 2015 to December 2019. Technical success of CL, WR, and long-term outcomes was analyzed. A total of 21 PNs were localized (1.3 PNs per patient). A 100% technical success rate was achieved in this study for CT-guided CL. Each PN was localized with 1 coil. Two and 2 patients experienced pneumothorax and hemoptysis, respectively. VATS-guided WR also achieved a 100% technical success rate. Additional lobectomy was performed in 2 patients due to the invasive adenocarcinoma. The final diagnoses of these 21 PNs were adenocarcinoma (T1N0M0, n = 8), adenocarcinoma in situ (n = 2), pre-cancerosis (n = 1), metastasis (n = 2), and benign (n = 8). All patients underwent CT follow-up for 6 to 48 months. All patients were alive during the follow-up. The cumulative 6-, 12, and 24-month disease-free survival rates were 100%, 92.9%, and 47.3%, respectively. The median disease-free survival was 27.9 months. Pre-operative CT-guided CL can be safely and conveniently used to facilitate a high success rate of VATS-guided WR for PNs in patients with a malignant history. Among the PNs in patients with malignant history, primary lung cancer also occupied approximately half of the PNs.