Surgical management of primary mediastinal mature teratoma: A single-center 20 years’ experience

Abstract

Background: This study aims to investigate the clinical efficacy of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in treating mediastinal mature teratoma (MMT) and explore the clinical factors that increase the difficulties associated with VATS. Method: We retrospectively reviewed 101 consecutive patients with MMT who underwent surgical excision between November 2001 and June 2021. Follow-up was done by telephone or at an outpatient clinic. The deadline for follow-up was February 2022. Results: The operative time, the chest tube indwelling time, and the hospital stay duration were significantly shorter in the VATS group compared with the thoracotomy group. The intraoperative and postoperative complication rates in the VATS group were lower than that of the thoracotomy group (P