[Procedures of Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery for Patients with Intrathoracic Pleural Adhesions].

With the progress of surgical instruments and surgical techniques, endoscopic surgery has become remarkably widespread, and techniques of the thoracoscopic surgery are considered to have become common. It is not uncommon to encounter cases with intrathoracic pleural adhesions, such as not only a history of intrathoracic inflammatory disease, but also second cancer after resection of early-stage lung cancer and multiple operations for metastatic lung tumor. It is important for thoracic surgeons to have a technique that enables thoracoscopic adhesiolysis without open thoracotomy to maintain the quality of life (QOL) and activity of daily living (ADL) of the patient. In this article, we would like to describe the concept of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for cases with intrathoracic pleural adhesions to avoid a conversion to open thoracotomy.