Initial experience of video-assisted thoracic surgery left upper sleeve lobectomy for lung cancer: Case report and literature review

Abstract

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) sleeve lobectomy continues to represent a great challenge to thoracic surgeons. Herein we report what we believe to be the first case of thoracoscopic left upper sleeve lobectomy for lung cancer. A 61-year-old male patient with centrally located lung cancer of the left upper lobe was successfully treated by this minimally invasive technique. Based on the success of the operation, we believe that VATS left upper sleeve lobectomy is also feasible, however, surgical approaches and procedures still require further improvement. © 2011 Tianjin Lung Cancer Institute and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty. Ltd.