Complications during and one month after surgery in the patients who underwent thoracoscopic surgery

Thoracoscopy is a new method in surgery whose role is expanding in a wide range of diagnosis and treatment of chest disorder. Thoracoscopy has many diagnostic and therapeutic benefits, and knowing about the complications of this diagnostic and therapeutic method being broadly used seems necessary. In this study, complications during and one month after surgery in the patients undergoing Thoracoscopy were reviewed. This prospective study was performed on 66 patients who underwent thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) between March 2012 and March 2013 at Rasht hospitals. Patients were assessed after surgery for one month follow–up. 66 patients were evaluated between March 2012 and March 2013 most of whom were male. The mean age of patients was 43.37±17.31 (range, 5 to 82). Intraoperative complications included conversion from VATS to open Thoracotomy in 5 patients (7.6%), bleeding in 3 patients (5.4%), and heart complication in 2 patients (3%). Postoperative complications included air leak in 9 patients (13.6%), Atelectasis in 4 patients (1.6%), Pneumothorax in 2 patients (%3), heart complications in 2 patients (%3), and Empyema in 1 patient (5.1%). the median VAS score in patients was 4. Only 1.5% of the patients who underwent Thoracoscopy died. In this study, patients with pleural effusion with unknown origin, Palmer Hyperhidrosis, Empyema, trauma, and Hemothorax underwent Thoracoscopy. The results showed that complications during and after surgery were minimal and most patients had low postoperative pain.