Feasibility of latissimus dorsi and serratus anterior muscle-sparing vertical thoracotomy in general thoracic surgery.

Postero-lateral thoracotomy has many complications such as postoperative pain, limitation in the motion of the shoulder, decreasing pulmonary function from immobilization, increasing lung atelectasis from over-use of analgesia, and increasing pulmonary morbidity, especially in elderly patients. So, muscle-sparing thoracotomy appears to be a good alternative. But it has also many disadvantages such as seroma and the needs for drains, limitation of an accessible operative field, and difficulties with risky procedures. We have modified muscle-sparing vertical thoracotomy. We performed 134 procedures on 131 patients from October 2000 to September 2003, including 15 cases of esophageal cancer, 95 cases of lung cancer, and 24 cases of other disease. Operative procedures were lobectomy in 74 cases, bilobectomy in 12 cases, pneumonectomy in 10 cases, wedge resection in 8 cases, decortication in 2 cases, Ivor Lewis procedure in 13 cases, and others in 15 cases. There was no occurrence of wound infection, arrrhythmia, fibrillation, and subcutaneous seroma except the first two cases. We had seven reoperations (two postoperative bleeding, three postpoperative BPF, one EGstomy leak, one RML torsion) and four operative mortalities (one postpneumonectomy BPF, two pneumonia, one heart failure). Our muscle-sparing vertical thoracotomy can be done safely in most thoracic surgery including lung and esophageal cancer, therefore it is a feasible procedure.