Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 General Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-019-01249-6 ORIGINAL ARTICLE A novel suction‑based lung‑stabilizing device in single‑port video‑assisted thoracoscopic surgical procedures Yusuke Muranishi 1  · Toshihiko Sato 2  · Yuichiro Ueda 2,3,4  · Yojiro Yutaka 3,4  · Tatsuo Nakamura 4  · Hiroshi Date 3 Received: 22 August 2019 / Accepted: 6 November 2019 © The Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery 2019 Abstract Objective Single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (SPVATS) has become a subject of interest for thoracic surgeons in recent years; however, it has not been fully accepted partly because the procedure is technically demanding. We speculate that the most critical problem of SPVATS is that signifcant interferences of the instruments may occur during the procedure because all the instruments share only a single incisional port. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of a new suction-based lung-stabilizing device during SPVATS procedure. Methods We developed a novel suction-based lung-stabilizing device equipped with three hemispheric silicon suction cups. Ten cases of canine’s lower lobectomies were performed. Five cases were performed without this device and designated as the control cases. The remaining cases were performed using this device and were designated as the experimental cases. Results A signifcantly fewer number of interruption times were noted in the novel lung-stabilizing device group than in the control group (average, 0.4 vs. 4.4; P = 0.0031). Although the diferences did not reach statistical signifcance, the device tended to demonstrate better performance compared with the control group regarding the operation time, organ damage, and accomplishment of SPVATS. Conclusion Our study indicates that the novel lung-stabilizing device has potentially useful applications in SPVATS procedures. Keywords Single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery · Lung-stabilizing device · Noninvasive surgery · Novel device · Suction cup Introduction Dramatic changes in performing thoracoscopic surgeries were noted particularly after the initial report on VATS lobectomy by Robert McKenna [1] in 1994. VATS proce- dures are commonly used for lung cancer or other thoracic diseases [2]. VATS performed with three or four ports by two or three surgeons is common in recent years. Its surgical technique has been established and recognized as oncologi- cally acceptable [2–4]. Recently, single-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (SPVATS) has become a subject of interest for thoracic surgeons. The frst reported SPVATS lobectomy by Dr. González-Rivas was performed more than 10 years ago [5]. Since then, some studies on lung cancer or other thoracic disease surgeries performed with SPVATS have been reported [6–11]. SPVATS is considered as the most minimally invasive procedure for the patient because it has only one access port and advantages that include less Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-019-01249-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Toshihiko Sato toshisato@fukuoka-u.ac.jp 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kyoto City Hospital, Kyoto, Japan 2 Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Breast and Pediatric Surgery, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, 7-45-1, Nanakuma, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka, Japan 3 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto, Japan 4 Department of Organ and Tissue Reconstruction, Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan