European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Jul 2008
Video-assisted cervical thoracoscopy: a novel approach for diagnosis, staging and pleurodesis of malignant pleural mesothelioma.
In the preoperative workup for radical surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), mediastinal lymph node staging, diagnostic pleural biopsies and effusion control with talc pleurodesis are required. We present a new technique combining these objectives via a single cervical incision using the videomediastinoscope and demonstrate its clinical benefits. ⋯ The benefits of this approach include reduction in postoperative pain, risk of biopsy site tumour seeding, and preoperative delay to radical surgery. VACT is feasible in right-sided mesothelioma but has not yet been validated on the left.