Safety of lymphadenectomy during video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy: analysis from a national database

The Italian VATS Group database was accessed to evaluate whether preoperative and intraoperative factors may affect the safety of lymphadenectomy (LA) during video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy. All video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy procedures performed between 1 January 2014 and 30 March 2017 for non-small-cell lung cancer with cN0 or cN1 disease were identified in the database. LA safety was evaluated based on intraoperative (operative time, bleeding and conversion rate) and postoperative (30-day morbidity and mortality, chest drain duration and length of stay) outcomes and was correlated with the number of resected lymph nodes and the rates of nodal upstaging. Continuous variables were presented as mean ± standard deviation and compared using the unpaired t-test; the χ2 test was used for categorical variables. Univariable analysis was performed on selected variables. Significant variables (P