Uniportal video-assisted thoracic surgery: segmentectomy versus lobectomy—early outcomes

Abstract OBJECTIVES To assess the feasibility and safety of uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic pulmonary segmentectomy compared with lobectomy by studying early postoperative outcomes. METHODS We included all patients who underwent uniportal segmentectomy and lobectomy between 2017 and 2022 at Karolinska University Hospital. Early clinical outcomes were compared between the uniportal segmentectomy and lobectomy groups. Differences in baseline characteristics were addressed using inverse probability of treatment weighting. RESULTS A total of 833 patients (232 segmentectomy, 601 lobectomy) were included. The number of uniportal operations increased during the study period. Patients in the segmentectomy and lobectomy groups, respectively, had stage I lung cancer in 65% and 43% of the cases; 97% and 94% had no postoperative complications, the median number of lymph node stations sampled was 4 vs 5, and non-radical microscopic resection occurred in 1.7% vs 1.8%. The drains were removed on postoperative day 1 in 75% vs 72% of the patients following segmentectomy and lobectomy, respectively, and 90% vs 89% were discharged directly home. CONCLUSIONS Uniportal video-assisted segmentectomy was performed with similar early postoperative clinical results compared with uniportal lobectomy in patients with benign, metastatic or early-stage lung cancer. Anatomical resection by segmentectomy has recently become an accepted alternative to lobectomy in curative surgery for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer [1].