The short-term outcomes of nonintubated anesthesia compared with intubated anesthesia in single-port video-assisted lung surgery in enhanced recovery after thoracic surgery: results from a single-center retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Nonintubated anesthesia avoids invasive tracheal intubation operations and reduces trauma. in addition, it has advantages in lung surgery in some patients with poor lung function, in line with the concept of rapid recovery. However, few studies have discussed the clinical significance of Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) combined with nonintubated anesthesia in single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). We conducted a retrospective study to examine the safety and availability of nonintubated anesthesia single-port video-assisted lung surgery (NI-SP-VALS) combined with ERAS programs in patients. METHODS: This was a single-center retrospective study. All patients were preoperatively diagnosed with lung nodules and underwent NI-SP-VALS or intubated anesthesia SP-VALS (I-SP-VALS) combined with ERAS programs between July 2021 and March 2022. Short-term postoperative outcomes were compared in 2 cohorts. RESULTS: In total, 272 patients were included. Among them, 91 patients received NI-SP-VALS combined with ERAS programs (observation group), and 181 underwent intubation anesthesia (control group). Baseline data were statistically different between the two groups, and 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) matching was used. A total of 73 patients remained in each group after PSM, and baseline characteristics were not significantly different between the 2 cohorts. The time of hospital stay [4.00 (4.00–5.00) vs. 44.50 (0.00–5.75) d; P=0.029] and catheter stay [0.50 (0.20–2.00) vs. 2.00 (2.00–2.00) d; P<0.001] were significantly shorter, the white blood cell count (WBC) [9.45 (8.08–11.30) vs. 11 (8.50–12.80)/L; P=0.009] and the lowest SpO(2) in operation [96.00 (94.00–97.50) vs. 97.00 (95.00–98.50); P=0.035] were also lower in the nonintubated group than those of the intubated group. No differences were observed in variables of intraoperation, other routine blood indexes, postoperative drainage, postoperative medicine use, postoperative symptoms, complications, hospitalization expenses, postoperative follow-up index, or self-assessment of anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The data after PSM shows that compared with intubated anesthesia, NI-SP-VALS combined with ERAS programs is safe and effective. Nonintubated anesthesia promotes rapid recovery of patients and reduces postoperative inflammatory reactions. Hence, nonintubated anesthesia may conform to the idea of ERAS and has application value in thoracic surgery.