Tubeless video-assisted thoracic surgery for lung cancer: is it ready for prime time?

[...]more potentially operable (stages IA-IIIA) lung cancer patients can be identified to receive timely treatments especially surgery, with a much-extended survival (3). [...]in patients receiving a thoracic epidural for pain management following cardiothoracic surgery, it is common to leave the epidural in until the chest tube is removed. [...]early chest tube removal, or simply not placing a chest tube at all after surgery, can not only reduce postoperative pain and reduce the length of stay (13), but also potentially decrease in-hospital cost. [...]we also think of potential complications related to tubeless VATS. For this, however, the related indication based on strong evidence remains unclear. [...]studies are warranted, especially to identify risk factors of the complications occurred in patients without postoperative chest tube placement.