Small incision minimally invasive surgery for early stage lung cancer

  Currently, with the popularity of health checkups and chest CT screening, more and more lung cancer patients can be detected at an early stage, whose typical CT presentation is nodular shadow or hairy glass-like changes in the lung. Early diagnosis and early treatment of lung cancer is the most effective way to reduce the mortality rate of lung cancer. The 5-year survival rate of patients treated with radical surgery can reach 60% to 70%, and the 5-year survival rate of stage IA patients can even reach 90%.  Traditional radical surgery for early-stage lung cancer is done through a posterior lateral open incision, which requires the removal or severance of a rib and is very painful and traumatic after surgery. Nowadays, the emerging total thoracoscopic pneumonectomy surgery is expected to change this situation.  Total thoracoscopic pneumonectomy is a thoracoscopic lung surgery performed under television surveillance, in which several small incisions are made in the appropriate parts of the chest, a thoracoscopic tube is inserted through the rib cage, and the patient’s chest is observed on a television screen.  This new surgical method is characterized by less trauma, less bleeding, less pain, faster recovery, shorter hospital stay, and less impact on upper arm motor function and respiratory function, which improves the quality of life of patients in postoperative recovery, while the aesthetics of the incision is good and meets the cosmetic requirements of patients, realizing the perfect unification of radical lung cancer treatment and minimally invasive. This procedure has been listed in the authoritative NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) guidelines as the standard procedure for early stage lung cancer treatment.  Minimally invasive surgical treatment can also reduce the stimulation of the body’s immune system and decrease the massive release of inflammatory factors in the body, while immune system dysfunction is usually considered to be related to postoperative tumor growth and recurrence, which means that thoracoscopic surgery may be important in preventing tumor recurrence, etc.