Surgical techniques for early-stage thymoma: Video-assisted thoracoscopic thymectomy versus transsternal thymectomy

Objective The present study compared the outcomes between patients who had undergone video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) thymectomy and transsternal (TS) thymectomy for Masaoka stage I and II thymoma. Methods The outcomes of 262 patients without myasthenia gravis who had undergone surgery for Masaoka stage I and II thymoma from January 2008 to December 2012 at our center were retrospectively evaluated. The study included 125 patients who had undergone unilateral VATS thymectomy (VATS group) and 137 patients who had undergone TS thymectomy (TS group). Results The VATS group had a shorter operative time than the TS group (170 vs 210 minutes, P P P P P Conclusions Unilateral VATS thymectomy for Masaoka stage I and II thymoma is technically feasible and safe and is less invasive than TS thymectomy, with a shorter duration of surgery, less intraoperative blood loss, less postoperative pleural drainage, shorter postoperative pleural drainage duration, and shorter postoperative hospital stay. We have concluded that it is preferable to perform VATS thymectomy, although perhaps under certain circumstances sternotomy might be preferred. The oncologic outcomes were comparable between the 2 procedures. Additional follow-up is required to evaluate the long-term outcomes.