Rib resection using a pneumatic high-speed power drill system for lung cancer with chest wall invasion: our clinical experience

• Published in: Surgery today (Tokyo, Japan) Vol. 47; no. 4; pp. 476 - 480
• Main Authors: Ueda, Yuichiro, Nakagawa, Tatsuo, Toyazaki, Toshiya, Chiba, Naohisa, Gotoh, Masashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01-04-2017
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma - pathology; Adenocarcinoma - surgery; Aged; Animals; Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant; Humans; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Lung Neoplasms - surgery; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Original Article; Pneumonectomy - instrumentation; Pneumonectomy - methods; Ribs - surgery; Surgery; Surgical Instruments; Surgical Oncology; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted - instrumentation; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted - methods; Thoracic Wall - pathology; Thoracic Wall - surgery; Thoracoplasty - methods; Treatment Outcome; Chest wall resection; Lung cancer; Pneumatic high-speed power drill
• ISSN: 0941-1291; 1436-2813
• DOI: 10.1007/s00595-016-1437-y

Rib resection for chest wall tumors, including lung cancer with chest wall invasion, is usually performed through open thoracotomy. Resection of part of the external rib cage requires an elongated or additional incision depending on the location and extension of the tumor, eventually becoming more invasive to patients. We recently introduced a technique of rib resection using a pneumatic high-speed power drill system known as “air tome”. This novel technique is easy to perform through a small incision or even via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in selected patients. We present our clinical experience and discuss the usefulness of this technique for rib resection in patients with lung cancer and chest wall invasion.