How to identify and divide an intersegmental plane in uniportal VATS segmentectomy

The number of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) underwent pulmonary segmentectomy is increasing worldwide because minimally invasive surgery is recently preferable in order to maintain quality of life, especially for preserving postoperative pulmonary function, in patients although lobectomy is the gold standard for the treatment of NSCLC (1,2). In patients’ prognosis, large retrospective study from Japanese Association for Chest Surgery (JACS) revealed favorable results of the 5-year overall (94%) and cancer free survival rates (93.7%) for patients with clinical stage IA undergoing sublobar resections (3). Moreover, in the prospective randomized trial, Suzuki and colleagues described the patients undergoing pulmonary segmentectomy had the equivalent results of postoperative complications with the patients undergoing lobectomy except for more frequency of prolonged air leakage (4). The report finally concluded that segmentectomy will be a standard treatment if the superior pulmonary function and noninferiority in overall survival are confirmed.