Image-guided video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (iVATS) - phase I-II clinical trial.

Purpose: To facilitate localization and resection of small lung nodules, we developed a prospective clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01847209) for a novel surgical approach which combines placement of fiducials using intra-operative C-arm computed tomography (CT) guidance with standard thoracoscopic resection technique using image-guided video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (iVATS).

Methods: Pretrial training was performed in a porcine model using C-arm CT and needle guidance software.