The smaller the better: a new concept in thoracic surgery ?
Menée sur 206 patients atteints d'un cancer du poumon non à petites cellules de stade précoce, cet essai compare les effets de deux techniques de lobectomie, l'une par chirurgie thoracoscopique vidéo-assistée et l'autre par thoracotomie antéro-latérale, sur la qualité de vie post-opératoire des patients et leurs symptômes de douleur
In The Lancet Oncology, Morten Bendixen and colleagues report the results of a randomised controlled trial comparing postoperative pain and quality of life in patients with stage I non-small-cell lung cancer who underwent pulmonary lobectomy by video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) or anterolateral thoracotomy.1 Such a study is timely in view of the increasing use of screening and early detection programmes, which has led to more lung cancers being diagnosed at early stages. This increase in early diagnoses has been accompanied by rising numbers of patients undergoing minimally invasive tumour resections via mini-thoracotomy without rib spreading and via keyhole access techniques to allow the insertion of cameras and endoscopic instruments.