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Thoracoscopy before 1990 was largely a diagnostic procedure that was mostly reserved for the evaluation of pleural disease. The emergence of better scopes and instruments has allowed thoracoscopy to evolve into a therapeutic modality. As evidence of its renewed popularity, a literature search of the word thoracoscopy yields 200 articles before 1990 and thousands of articles since. Thoracoscopic procedures using modified small incisions with scopes are referred to as video-assisted thoracic surgery, or VATS. This term, is probably more appropriate now than thoracoscopy, which simply suggests the use of a scope to look inside the thoracic cavity. In this chapter, indications, techniques, and complications of VATS for both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are reviewed. For some procedures, VATS has replaced open approaches due to reduced morbidity, shortened hospital stay, better cosmetics, or better exposure,[1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10] whereas in other procedures the advantages are not as clear.
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Thoracoscopy before 1990 was largely a diagnostic procedure that was mostly reserved for the evaluation of pleural disease. The emergence of better scopes and instruments has allowed thoracoscopy to evolve into a therapeutic modality. As evidence of its renewed popularity, a literature search of the word thoracoscopy yields 200 articles before 1990 and thousands of articles since. Thoracoscopic procedures using modified small incisions with scopes are referred to as video-assisted thoracic surgery, or VATS. This term, is probably more appropriate now than thoracoscopy, which simply suggests the use of a scope to look inside the thoracic cavity. In this chapter, indications, techniques, and complications of VATS for both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are reviewed. For some procedures, VATS has replaced open approaches due to reduced morbidity, shortened hospital stay, better cosmetics, or better exposure,[1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10] whereas in other procedures the advantages are not as clear.
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