Feasibility and value of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery wedge excision of small pulmonary nodules in patients with malignancy.

Purpose: Advances in CT scanning have presented physicians with the challenge of diagnosing small (< 10 mm) or deep (> 5 mm) pulmonary nodules (SmPNs) in patients with known malignancies during workup or follow-up. Wedge excision of SmPNs is difficult with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and often requires the performance of a thoracotomy. The value of the early detection of metastatic disease must be weighed against the morbidity (ie, thoracotomy) that is necessarily involved in obtaining the information.