Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Sleeve Lobectomy for Centrally Located Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Meta-analysis

Background Whether video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) sleeve lobectomy could be an alternative to traditional thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy in treating centrally located non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted the first meta-analysis to compare the effects of VATS sleeve lobectomy with thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy. Methods We systematically searched relevant studies from Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science on May 12, 2020. Data for analysis included short-term outcomes (blood loss, lymph node dissected, operation time, hospital stay, complications) and long-term outcomes (3-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates). We calculated the weighted mean differences (WMDs) for continuous data and risk ratio (RR) for pooling categorical data. Results We finally included 5 retrospective cohort study consisting of 436 patients. VATS sleeve lobectomy yielded significantly less blood loss (WMD = -37.83; 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = [-58.56, -17.11]; P < 0.001) than thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy and comparable total number of dissected lymph node to thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy (WMD = - 0.07; 95%CI = [-1.14, 0.99]; P = 0.89). However, VATS sleeve lobectomy consumed significantly more operation time than thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy (WMD = 49.00; 95%CI = [14.67, 83.34]; P = 0.005). VATS sleeve lobectomy yielded significantly less postoperative hospital stay time than thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy (WMD = -1.68; 95%CI = [-2.98, -0.39]; P = 0.011) and comparable postoperative complication rate to thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy (RR = 0.84; 95%CI = [0.49, 1.44]; P = 0.52). Moreover, VATS sleeve lobectomy yielded comparable 3-year OS (RR = 1.08; 95%CI = [0.95, 1.22]; P = 0.23) and PFS (RR = 1.15; 95%CI = [0.96, 1.37]; P = 0.13) rates to thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy. No significant heterogeneities were observed. Conclusions VATS sleeve lobectomy yielded less surgical trauma than thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy and improved postoperative recovery without compromising oncological prognosis. Even though VATS sleeve lobectomy may consume more operation time, it could be recommended as an alternative to thoracotomy sleeve lobectomy for treating centrally located NSCLC in carefully selected cases.