Short-term Outcome of Uniportal and Three Portal Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery for Patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Background and objective Currently, there are many reports on the advantages of three portal video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in the treatment of lung cancer, but there are few reports on the comparison between uniportal and three portal video-assisted thoracic surgery. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the recent curative effect of the postoperative short-term quality of life between uniportal and three portal video-assisted thoracic surgery for non-small cell lung cancer. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 266 patients with NSCLC who underwent intended VATS lobectomy by a single surgical team in our ward between January 2016 and August 2017. The general clinical date, perioperative data and short-term life quality were individually compared and analyzed between the two groups. Results The two groups were similar in terms of clinicopathological features, total number of dissected lymph nodes and nodal stations, postoperative complications and pulmonary complications (P>0.05). Compared with three portal VATS, the intraoperative blood loss, chest tube duration, postoperative thoracic drainage, length of stay and NRS score were significantly decreased in uniportal VATS, with significant differences (P<0.05). Conclusion As a more minimally invasive surgery, uniportal VATS can be safely and effectively performed for resectable lung cancer, which would achieve even better operation curative effect than three portal VATS.？