Video-assisted thoracoscopic thymectomy for early-stage thymoma: A review

Minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery has become a popular technique to remove lung and mediastinal tumors.Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) thymectomy has been performed for early-stage (Masaoka stages I/II) thymomas during the past two decades.Several reports have stated that VATS thymectomy for early stage thymomas appears safe and feasible.This technique is associated with a shorter hospital stay and has oncologic outcomes comparable with those of transsternal thymectomy.Other researchers have found no difference in the short-, mid-, or long-term prognosis between VATS and trans-sternal thymectomy.However, evaluation of the long-term oncologic outcomes of VATS thymectomy for early stage thymoma using national registries and randomized controlled trials is difficult because thymoma is a rare tumor.The present study was performed to investigate the history of, indications for, advantages and disadvantages of, and future potential problems associated with VATS thymectomy for treatment of early stage thymoma (Masaoka stages I/II).