Introduction: Extensive subcutaneous emphysema may lead to a significantly prolonged hospital stay, cosmetic problems, and even death without timely treatment. However, the risk factors for it have been poorly studied.
Aim: To clarify the prevalence and risk factors of extensive subcutaneous emphysema after pulmonary resection by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.
Material and methods: This is a retrospective matched case-control study. A sample of 86 cases and 258 matched controls was recruited from among 4339 patients admitted to the thoracic surgery department from October 2018 to October 2020 in a tertiary teaching hospital in China. Cases were patients who were diagnosed with extensive subcutaneous emphysema after pulmonary resection through video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Controls were matched in a ratio of 3 : 1 to the cases based on age and sex.
Results: In this study, the incidence rate of extensive subcutaneous emphysema was 2.05%, and approximately 75.58% of the cases occurred within 1 to 4 days postoperatively. In univariate analysis, patients with extensive subcutaneous emphysema were also likely to have a significant lower body mass index, worse pulmonary function, greater intraoperative blood loss, longer time of operation, history of lung surgery, wider scope of surgery, and more extensive pleural adhesion. The results of multivariate logistic regression showed that segmentectomy (OR = 3.130, 95% CI: 1.055-9.283, p = 0.040), lobectomy (OR = 4.487, 95% CI: 1.704-11.812, p = 0.002), and extensive pleural adhesion (OR = 4.514, 95% CI: 1.763-11.556, p = 0.002) were independent risk factors.
Conclusions: Segmentectomy, lobectomy, and extensive pleural adhesions were identified as independent risk factors for extensive subcutaneous emphysema after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.
Introduction: Computed tomography (CT)-guided liquid material (LM) and hook-wire (HW) are usually localized for pulmonary nodules (PNs) before video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) resection, but the relative advantages of these 2 techniques remain uncertain.
Aim: This meta-analysis was conceived to juxtapose the efficacy and safety of HW localization (HWL) and LM localization (LML), both guided by CT, for the preoperative localization of PNs.
Material and methods: The PubMed, Web of Science, and Wanfang databases were searched to identify relevant studies published as of March 2023, after which pooled analyses of study outcomes were conducted.
Results: A total of 7 studies were included in this meta-analysis from 142 relevant studies. These 7 studies included 551 patients (583 PNs) with CT-guided HWL and 551 patients (612 PNs) with LML. The successful localization rate was significantly higher in the LM group (LMG) than in the HW group (HWG) (p = 0.002). The LMG also exhibited significantly lower pooled total complication and lung haemorrhage rates than the HWG (p = 0.007 and 0.00001, respectively). Pooled localization duration, pneumothorax rates, and VATS procedure duration were comparable in both groups (p = 0.45, 0.15, and 0.74, respectively). Furthermore, the pooled postoperative hospital stay was significantly shorter in the LMG than in the HWG (p = 0.009). Significant heterogeneity was detected in the endpoints of localization duration and pneumothorax rate (I2 = 93% and 66%, respectively).
Conclusions: CT-guided LML is safer and more successful than HWL for patients with PNs before VATS resection.