Application of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in penertrating thoracic trauma

Objective To study the feasibility and superiority of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in the exploring diagnosis and simple treatment of penertrating thoracic traumas (PTT) under local anesthesia.Methods From February 2005 to January 2011,patients admitted in emergency hospitalization due to the PTT caused by stab were chosed.The VATS treatment group:Videoassisted thoracoscopic surgery was used in 21 patients,under local anesthesia for the explorating chest injury situation,then decide the next step treatment programmes.Conventional treatment group:25 patients who treated by conventional methods were chosed,observed indicators including transfusing volume,duration of postoperative chest drainage,average length of hospitalization,complication rate,and hospitalization expenses.Results There was no significant difference in the two groups.VATS explorating were successfully completied in the study group.Thirteen patients accepted the simple treatment,8 patients accepted thoracoscopy-assisted mini-incision surgery or conversion to open surgery.In the conventional treatment group,16 patiens received observation and treatment after closed drainage.Then 9 patients of them were operated under general anesthesia.The study group was clearly superior to the compared group.Such as the study group has short hospitalization time,less liquid drainage,low complications,there was no significant difference in hospitalization expenses between the two groups.Conclusions VATS can make a correct judgement in PTT injury situation and provide evidence for further treatment.Thoracoscopic detection method is clearly superior to conventional treatment method in PTT.And it is safe and feasible in exploring diagnosis and it simple treatment of VATS in PTT. Key words: Penertrating thoracic traumas ;  Emergency;  Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery; Closed thoracic drainage