Use of the anatomical formulae for predicted postoperative (PPO) evaluation overestimates the loss of FEV1 and DLCO after minimally invasive lung resections.

Background: Pulmonary function assessment is mandatory before oncological lung resection surgery. To do so, subjects undergo a pulmonary function test (PFT) and the calculation of predicted postoperative (PPO) values to estimate the residual lung function after surgery. The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of anatomical formulae in estimating postoperative pulmonary function in patients undergoing minimally invasive surgery (MIS).

Liquid Biopsy Detecting Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Preliminary Results of a Pilot Study.

Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Interest is growing towards early detection and advances in liquid biopsy to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs). This pilot study aimed to detect epithelial CTCs in the peripheral blood of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Port Placement Strategies for Robotic Pulmonary Lobectomy: A Narrative Review.

Background: Despite the use of robotics becoming increasingly popular among thoracic surgeons worldwide, there remains debate over the best robotic approach for lung resections. In this paper, we delineated the main port placement strategies and discussed their advantages and disadvantages.

Methods: A PubMed literature review was performed using key phrases such as "robotic lobectomy technique", "RATS lobectomy", and "port placement robotic lobectomy".

The Overweight Paradox: Impact of Body Mass Index on Patients Undergoing VATS Lobectomy or Segmentectomy.

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of BMI on perioperative outcomes in patients undergoing VATS lobectomy or segmentectomy. Data from 5088 patients undergoing VATS lobectomy or segmentectomy, included in the VATS Group Italian Registry, were collected. BMI (kg/m) was categorized according to the WHO classes: underweight, normal, overweight, obese.

Primary seminoma arising in the posterior mediastinum: a diagnostic challenge.

Primary mediastinal germ cell tumors are a rare finding, and one third of them are seminomas. Seminomas are found in the anterior mediastinum, whereas they are extremely rare within the posterior compartment. Most clinicians would not consider a primary seminoma in the differential diagnosis of a posterior mediastinal mass, as only two cases have been reported in literature.

The Redax Coaxial Drain in pulmonary lobectomy: a study of efficacy.

Background: Pleural drainage is required after pulmonary lobectomy to evacuate air-leak and fluid. We compared the performance of the new Redax Coaxial Drain (CD) (Redax, Mirandola, Italy) with a standard chest tube (CT) in terms of fluid and air-leak evacuation.

Methods: Fifty-two patients receiving a 24-F CD under water-seal after pulmonary lobectomy through open surgery or video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) were matched according to demographic, clinical and pathological variables with 104 patients receiving a 24-F CT.

Giant Cervico-mediastinal Well-differentiated Liposarcoma.

Liposarcomas are rare entities and those located in the neck and mediastinum are exceptional. We report the case of a 58 year-old Caucasian male who presented with dysphonia, mild dysphagia to solids, dyspnoea at exertion and cough due to a giant mass of the neck originating from the deep cervical space at C6 vertebral level spreading into the posterior mediastinum. The lesion, that was associated with a right vocal cord palsy, caused severe lateral displacement of the trachea and oesophagus.

Persistent lung expansion after pleural talc poudrage in non-surgically resected malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Background: To investigate the prognostic effect of persistent lung expansion after pleural talcage and other variables in non-surgically resected malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) patients.

Methods: All consecutive patients submitted to video-assisted thoracoscopic (VAT) pleurodesis by talc poudrage for MPM between 2006 and 2011 were studied. The following parameters were prospectively recorded: age; sex; smoking history; asbestos exposure; C-reactive protein (CRP) levels; platelet (PLT) count; Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS); histologic subtype; clinical stage (cStage); chemotherapy; pleural fluid volume; and persistence of lung expansion at 3 months follow-up.

Stabilizing posture through imagery.

Abstract In the general population, suppression of vision modulates body sway by increasing the center of pressure (CoP) velocity, while a light fingertip touch reduces the area of the CoP displacement in blindfolded subjects. This study assessed whether imagined fixation and fingertip touch differentially stabilize posture in subjects with high (highs) and low (lows) hypnotizability. Visual and tactile imageries were ineffective in lows.

Non-small cell lung cancer in surgically treated women.

Aim And Background: To determine whether female patients operated on for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have a survival advantage compared to male patients.

Methods And Study Design: We analyzed data from 1,426 prospectively collected patients submitted to lung resection for NSCLC between 1999 and 2008.

Results: Two groups, including 1,014 male and 412 female patients, were compared.

Metastasis to subsegmental and segmental lymph nodes in patients resected for non-small cell lung cancer: prognostic impact.

Background: We investigated the prognostic significance of segmental and subsegmental (level 13 and 14) lymph nodes metastasis in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: The pattern of lymph nodal metastasis was analyzed in 124 patients with pN1 NSCLC. Long-term outcomes were compared for 390 pN0, 124 pN1, and 82 pN2 consecutive patients submitted to planned pulmonary resection for NSCLC between 2000 and 2006.

The solitary pulmonary nodule in patients with previous cancer history: results of surgical treatment.

Background: The present study was carried out to evaluate the characteristics of solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN) in patients with previous cancer(s) and to analyse the outcome of its surgical treatment.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 131 patients with history of previous malignancy submitted to lung surgery for new identified SPN between January 2004 and December 2009.

Results: The diagnosis was metastasis in 65 patients, primary lung cancer in 57, benign lesion in 9.

Parathyroid carcinoma: case report.

The authors present a case of parathyroid carcinoma in a patient with primary hyperparathyroidism. Following a literature review, the clinical and diagnostic profile, treatment and prognosis of this rare disease are discussed.

Pancreatic pseudocyst: case report and short literature review.

We report a case of pancreatic pseudocyst secondary to acute necrotizing pancreatitis treated with open cystogastrostomy. Following a literature review, we stress the enormous benefits offered by modern diagnostic techniques, and especially imaging techniques, for the diagnosis and monitoring of this disease. Treatment should be delayed for at least six weeks, following which the drainage by open surgery offers the best results and lowest morbidity and mortality, followed by laparoscopy and endoscopy, indicated in particular cases and in patients where open surgery is contraindicated.

Use of the proposals of the international association for the study of lung cancer in the forthcoming edition of lung cancer staging system to predict long-term prognosis of operated patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of the proposals of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in the forthcoming 7th edition of lung cancer staging system to classify patients submitted to radical surgical resection of non-small cell lung cancer and to compare their value in predicting long-term prognosis with the existing 6th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC) TNM classification.

Methods: Nine hundred twenty-one patients received an anatomic resection and hilar-mediastinal dissection for primary non-small cell lung cancer during the period 1990 to 2005. Histopathologic staging following the actual AJCC/UICC TNM classification were as follows: 207 T1, 562 T2, 148 T3, and 4 T4; 570 N0, 149 N1, 198 N2, and 4 N3; 163 stage IA, 346 IB, 23 IIA, 157 IIB, 224 IIIA, and 8 IIIB.

Air-leak management after upper lobectomy in patients with fused fissure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a pilot trial comparing sealant and standard treatment.

A pilot trial to compare the efficacy of two different procedures to prevent postoperative air-leak in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients submitted to upper lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer. Sixty patients with COPD and lung cancer at the upper pulmonary lobes eligible for lobectomy were enrolled and randomly assigned either to standard treatment (ST) with stapling device or to electrocautery dissection and application of a collagen patch coated with human fibrinogen and thrombin (TachoSil) (experimental treatment [ET]) for the intra-operative completion of their fused fissures. Thirty patients were enrolled in each group during a three-year period.

Surgical pleurodesis for Vanderschueren's stage III primary spontaneous pneumothorax.

The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of various pleurodesis procedures on post-operative morbidity and late recurrence rate after surgical treatment of Vanderschueren's stage III primary spontaneous pneumothorax. Between January 2001 and June 2004, 208 consecutive patients (169 male and 39 female; mean (range) age 25 (12-39) yrs) were submitted to 220 video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical procedures for primary spontaneous pneumothorax. All patients underwent apical lung resection; 112 were assigned at random to mechanical pleural abrasion (group A) and 108 to apical pleurectomy (group B).

Lymph node isolated tumor cells and micrometastases in pathological stage I non-small cell lung cancer: prognostic significance.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and prognostic significance of lymph node micrometastases and isolated tumor cells (ITC) in patients submitted for radical resection for pathological stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: From January 1998 through December 2005, 87 consecutive pT1-2, pN0 NSCLC patients were enrolled. Surgical specimens were submitted to pathological routine examinations to define histotype, grade, stage, vascular invasion, necrosis and tumor proliferative index.

The role of surgery in the management of solitary pulmonary nodule in breast cancer patients.

Aims: To assess the role of surgery in the diagnosis and treatment of a solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN) in patients who had received previous surgery for breast cancer.

Methods: A series of 79 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for an SPN between 1990 and 2003 after a curative resection for breast cancer were reviewed.

Results: Surgical diagnosis was obtained by open procedure before 1996 (37 cases), and by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) after 1996 (33 out of 42 cases, 9 open procedures) and intraoperative evaluation.

Does adjuvant radiation therapy improve disease-free survival in completely resected Masaoka stage II thymoma?

Objective: To determine whether or not patients with completely resected Masaoka stage II thymoma benefit from postoperative radiotherapy (RT).

Methods: We retrospectively review the case records and compared the long-term outcomes of patients affected by Masaoka stage II thymoma treated by resection alone with same stage thymoma patients submitted to resection and RT. Surgical specimens were reviewed to confirm pathological stage, negative resection margins and histological subtype.

Pulmonary metastases from epithelial tumours: late results of surgical treatment.

Objective: Development of distant metastases is one of the primary characteristics of malignant tumours. During the last decades, lung metastasectomy has been progressively accepted as a therapeutic option in oncology patients. The present paper aims to evaluate the long-term results and factors influencing prognosis in patients submitted to lung resection for metastases from extrapulmonary epithelial tumours.

Subarachnoid-pleural fistula due to blunt chest trauma. A case report.

Subarachnoid pleural fistula (SPF) due to blunt chest trauma is rare. When SPF isn't associated with any neurological deficits, its clinical diagnosis is possible only with high degree of suspicion. Presentation symptoms include dyspnea and respiratory distress caused by the collection of cerebral-spinal fluid in the pleural cavity.