Comparison of survival between lung cancer patients receiving single or multiple-incision thoracoscopic surgery.
Background
The effect of single-incision thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer on long-term survival is unknown and no studies have investigated whether there are differences in survival between single and multiple incision approaches. We aimed to compare long-term overall survival and disease-free survival of patients who underwent single-incision thoracoscopic surgery with those who received multiple-incision thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer.


Methods
We retrospectively analyzed 532 patients with lung cancer who underwent either single-incision (n=150) or multiple-incision thoracoscopic resection (n=382) during the period January 2000 to December 2014. Patients were matched on propensity score at a 1:2 ratio to estimate the effect of treatment on long-term and disease-free survival. Overall survival and disease-free survival were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method, the log-rank test and Cox proportional-hazards regression.


Results
Propensity matching resulted in 138 patients in the single-incision group and 276 patients in the multiple-incision group. The matched patients in the single-incision group had a significantly better 5-year overall survival than those in the multiple-incision group (P=0.027). Disease-free survival was similar between the two groups before and after matching. The number of chest wall incisions did not influence overall survival or disease-free survival.


Conclusions
The long-term outcomes of single-incision thoracoscopic surgery are comparable to those of multiple-incision thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer.
['Liu|Chia-Chuan|CC|', 'Wang|Bing-Yen|BY|', 'Shih|Chih-Shiun|CS|', 'Pennarun|Nicolas|N|', 'Lim|Lay-Chin|LC|', 'Gao|Shi-Ying|SY|', 'Cheng|Chih-Tao|CT|']
Survival lung cancer multiple-incision thoracoscopic surgery single-incision