Postoperative computed tomography of insufflated lung specimens obtained by video-assisted thoracic surgery: detection and margin assessment of pulmonary nodules

• Autor(a) principal: Antunes,Milene da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Hochhegger,Bruno, Alves,Giordano Rafael Tronco, Gazzoni,Fernando Ferreira, Forte,Gabriele Carra, Andrade,Rubens Gabriel Feijó, Felicetti,José Carlos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Radiologia Brasileira (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-39842022000300151
• topic: Tomography, X-ray computed; Thoracic surgery, video-assisted; Lung neoplasms/diagnostic imaging

Abstract Objective: To investigate the utility of computed tomography (CT) scans to detect and assess the margin status of pulmonary nodules that were insufflated after being resected by video-assisted thoracic surgery. Materials and Methods: This was a novel multicenter study conducted at two national referral centers for thoracic diseases. Patients suspected of having lung cancer underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery for the resection of pulmonary nodules, which were submitted to postoperative CT. Measurements from the CT scans were compared with the results of the histopathological analysis. Results: A total of 37 pulmonary nodules from 37 patients were evaluated. The mean age of the patients was 65 years (range, 36-84 years), and 27 (73%) were female. A CT analysis of insufflated specimens identified all 37 nodules, and 33 of those nodules were found to have tumor-free margins. The histopathological analysis revealed lung cancer in 30 of the nodules, all with tumor-free margins, and benign lesions in the seven remaining nodules. Conclusion: Postoperative CT of insufflated suspicious lung lesions provides real-time detection of pulmonary nodules and satisfactory assessment of tumor margins. This initial study shows that CT of insufflated lung lesions can be a valuable tool at centers where intraoperative histopathological analysis is unavailable.