Clinical Application of Thoracoscopic Surgery in Elderly Lung Cancer Patients

［Abstract］Objective　To summarize the experience in the treatment of elderly patients（65 years of age）with lung cancer by using video-assisted thoracic surgery（VATS）．Methods　72 elderly patients with lung cancer were enrolled in this study．36 cases of lung cancer in elderly patients were treated with VATS，including lung wedge resection in 20 cases，lung resection in 11 cases，transit thoracotomy in 5 cases，the intraoperative frozen tissues were given fast pathological examination， and systematic lymph node dissection was performed in parallel．Another 36 patients were given traditional surgery．Results　All patients got complete tumor resection，the postoperative pathology report showed no cancer cells in the incisal margin of tumors．There were no perioperative deaths and no serious postoperative complications（12.5±1.4）right chest lymph nodes and（10.5 ±0.5）left chest lymph nodes were dissected，respectively．The time of VATS was 35 ~ 114 min，mean（77±13）min．Mean postoperative hospital stay time was（5.9±2.5）d，drainage tube indwelling time was（3.4±1.6）d．One patients with a history of heart disease stayed in ICU for 3 days．Conclusion　Comapred with traditional thoracotomy， VATS for thoracic surgery in elderly patients has minimal invasion，fewer complications，little physical interference，rapid postoperative recovery，and is safer especially for patients with chronic heart and lung diseases