Affiliation:
1. Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Free University Hospital, Postbus 7057, Amsterdam, MB 1007, The Netherlands
Abstract
Video-assisted thoracoscopy (VAT) is usually performed under general anesthesia (GA).
We performed an analysis to determine whether multithoracoport VAT under local
anesthesia (LA) is feasible.Methods: Forty-five VAT under LA were performed in 34 men and 11 women (mean
age 46.8 years) in the endoscopy room.Results: The waiting time for VAT under LA was 0.5–6h on working days. There
were no major complications during or after the VAT. In 9 patients, pleural malignancy
was diagnosed, and in 7 patients suspected malignancy was excluded. In 5 patients we
found bacterial empyema, of whom 4 had diathermic adhesiolysis during VAT. In 4
patients, the clinical diagnosis was tuberculosis by exclusion, and in 2 patients no conclusive
diagnosis could be drawn. VAT influenced treatment policy 15 times, and in 17
pneumothorax patients talc poudrage was performed during the procedure.Conclusion: VAT under LA is safe, effective, logistically simple, and requires no long
waiting times. No conversion to GA was necessary.
Subject
Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
Cited by
13 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献