IMAGE-GUIDED LOCALIZATION FOR VIDEO-ASSISTED THORACIC-SURGERY

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has become a useful diagnostic and therapeutic tool in the management of lung, pleural, and mediatsti nal disease. Preoperative image-guided localization is performed to ai d the surgeon in the thoracoscopic resection of small lung lesions tha t would otherwise be difficult to resect. This article describes the t echniques of localization and reviews our experience with this procedu re. While the majority of localization procedures are performed during an immediately preoperative computed tomography (CT), the use of intr aoperative lesion localization using an endosonographic probe has been reported. The need for localization before resection is dependent on the skill and experience of the thoracoscopist and the characteristics of the lung lesions.