• Giorgio Cannone, Vincenzo Verzeletti, Alberto Busetto, Luigi Lione, Alessandro Bonis, Samuele Nicotra, Alessandro Rebusso, Marco Mammana, Marco Schiavon, Andrea Dell'Amore, and Federico Rea.
• Thoracic Surgery Unit, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padua, 35122 Padua, Italy.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2023 Nov 26; 59 (12).

AbstractBackground and objectives: VATS segmentectomy has been proven to be effective in the treatment of stage I NSCLC, but its technical complexity remains one of the most challenging aspects for thoracic surgeons. Furthermore, 3D-CT reconstruction images can help in planning and performing surgical procedures. In this paper, we present our personal experience of 11 VATS anatomical resections performed after accurate pre-operative planning with 3D reconstructions. Materials and methods: A 3D virtual model of the lungs, airways, and vasculature was obtained, starting from a 1.25 mm 3-phase contrast CT scan, and the original images were used for the semi-automatic segmentation of the lung parenchyma, airways, and tumor. Results: Six males and five females were included in this study. The median diameter of the pulmonary lesion at the pre-operative chest CT scan was 20 mm. The surgical indication was confirmed in seven patients: in three cases, a lobectomy, instead of a segmentectomy, was needed due to intraoperative findings of nodal metastasis. Meanwhile, only in one case, we performed a lobectomy because of inadequate surgical resection margins. Skin-to-skin operative average time was 142 (IQR 1-3 105-182.5) min. The median post-operative stay was 6 (IQR 1-3 3.5-7) days. The mean value of the closest surgical margin was 13.7 mm. Conclusion: Image-guided reconstructions are a useful tool for surgeons to perform complex resections in order to spare healthy parenchyma and to ensure disease-free margins. Nevertheless, human skill and surgeon experience still remain fundamental for the final decisions regarding the proper resection to perform.

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