Does VATS favor seeding of carcinoma of the lung more than a conventional operation?
Lewis, R.J.; Caccavale, R.J.; Sisler, G.E.; Bocage, J.P.
International Surgery 82(2): 127-130
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0020-8868 PMID: 9331837 Document Number: 473264
Seeding of carcinoma has always been of concern to surgeons. Recent reports have focused on possible implantation of tumor in the small wounds of minimally invasive procedures, i.e. VATS. A patient is presented who had a conventional open lobectomy for carcinoma and later developed tumor in the traditional thoracotomy wound. Although seeding or tumor implantation is accepted by thoracic surgeons, the exact mechanism of tumor implantation has never been scientifically explained or documented. Possibly, a rare and necessary pattern of genetic mutations could be responsible for this infrequent but serious problem.