Lobectomy after three-dimensional computed tomography of the pulmonary artery

• Published in: Asian cardiovascular & thoracic annals Vol. 22; no. 9; pp. 1080 - 1083
• Main Authors: Simoglou, Christos, Tsolakis, Nikolaos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.11.2014
• Subjects: Contrast Media; Humans; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Lung Neoplasms - surgery; Preoperative Care - methods; Pulmonary Artery - diagnostic imaging; Radiographic Image Enhancement - methods; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted - methods; Tomography, Spiral Computed - methods; pulmonary artery; three-dimensional; Image processing; lung neoplasms; tomography; video-assisted; imaging; X-ray computed; thoracic surgery; computer-assisted
• ISSN: 1816-5370
• DOI: 10.1177/0218492314530976

Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of 3-dimensional imaging using multidetector row helical computed tomography for preoperative assessment of the branching pattern of the pulmonary artery before complete video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy for lung cancer. Forty-nine consecutive patients with clinical stage I lung cancer scheduled for complete video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy were evaluated for pulmonary artery branching patterns on 16-channel multidetector row helical computed tomography. Intraoperative finding were compared with the 3-dimensional computed tomography angiography. According to the intraoperative findings, 95.2% (139/146) of pulmonary artery branches were precisely identified on preoperative computed tomography angiography. All of the 7 undetected branches were less than 2 mm in diameter. No patient needed conversion to an open thoracotomy because of intraoperative bleeding. Three-dimensional computed tomography angiography clearly revealed individual anatomies of the pulmonary artery and could play an important role in safely facilitating complete video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy. However, we were unable to detect several thin branches with this technique.