Muscle-sparing minithoracotomy with intercostal nerve cryoanalgesia: an improved method for major lung resections.

To decrease incisional pain, morbidity, and length of hospital stay (LOS) and, hopefully, to reduce costs, most surgical specialties have turned to minimally invasive procedures to access the body cavities during commonly performed operations. Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has emerged as the standard approach for a number of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in thoracic surgery. Major lung resections (lobectomy, bilobectomy, and pneumonectomy), however, can be performed through an incision similar in size to the utility or access thoracotomy used in VATS to remove the specimen.