Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus
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Benign esophageal tumors are rare; complete surgical resection is essential for the management of the submucosal tumors. Larger, symptomatic, or non-diagnostic lesions should be resected for both diagnostic and therapeutic indications. Video-assisted thoracic surgery has become a popular treatment in the field of thoracic surgery; however, thoracoscopic esophageal surgery may lead to an increase in operative complications. ⋯ There were no major morbidities such as postoperative leakage or mortality. Esophageal submucosal tumors can be treated safely with thoracoscopic surgery. However, intraoperative esophagoscopy allows accurate tumor localization, direction of esophageal access incision, and decreases complications during VATS enucleation of esophageal submucosal tumors.