European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Dec 2000
Therapeutic video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical resection of colorectal pulmonary metastases.
Careful patient selection is vital when video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical (VATS) therapeutic pulmonary metastasectomy of colorectal carcinoma is considered. Complete resection of all metastatic disease remains a vital concept. We reviewed our VATS experience for therapeutic metastasectomy of peripheral colorectal pulmonary metastases. ⋯ Therapeutic VATS resection of colorectal metastases appears efficacious. Preoperative CT can identify peripheral colorectal metastases amenable to VATS. Conversion to thoracotomy is indicated when none of the lesions identified by CT are found or when clear surgical margins are jeopardized.