Video-assisted thoracic surgery in treatment of early chronic empyema

Objective To study the effect of video-assisted thoracic surgery in the treatment of early chronic empyema. Methods Ninety patients with early chronic empyema were equally randomized into an observation group and a control group. The observation group was treated by video-assisted thoracic surgery and the control group traditional thoracotomy. The perioperative conditions, surgical effect, and complications were compared between the two groups. Results The surgical time was shorter and the bleeding volume and chest drainage volume were significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group (all P < 0.05). The pulmonary function indicators, FEV1, FVC, and MVV, were significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group after surgery (all P < 0.05). The recurrence rate was significantly lower in the observation group than that in control group (0.00% vs. 6.67%) (P < 0.05). Conclusion Video-assisted thoracic surgery in the treatment of early chronic empyema is minimally invasive and quite effective and has few complications, so it is worth being clinically generalized. Key words: Early chronic empyema; Video-assisted thoracic surgery; Clinical curative effect