Pulmonary Epithelial-Myoepithelial Carcinoma

Lu's approach for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery

OBJECTIVES

Lu's approach for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (LVATS), which derives from UVATS, is a novel surgical approach for VATS and carries out micro-innovation for lung cancer resection. The objective of this study is to elucidate the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of this novel surgical approach.

METHODS

The clinical data of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent a curative thoracoscopic lobectomy between Mar. 2021 and Mar. 2022, were retrospectively collected, and analyzed. According to whether applied Lu's approach during the VATS operation, patients were divided into the LVATS group and the UVATS group. The propensity score (PS) matching method was used to reduce selection bias by creating two groups. After generating the PSs, 1:1 ratio and nearest-neighbor score matching was completed. Perioperative variables, including the operation time, intraoperative blood loss, lymph node stations dissected, total drainage volume, drainage duration, postoperative hospital stay, pain score (VAS, Visual Analogue Scale) on the postoperative first day (POD1) and third day (POD3), and incidence of postoperative complications, were compared between the two groups. The data were analyzed statistically with P<0.05 defined as statistically significant.

RESULTS

A total of 182 patients were identified, among whom 86 patients underwent LVATS and 96 UVATS. Propensity matching produced 62 pairs in this retrospective study. There were no deaths during perioperative period. Patients in the LVATS group experienced a shorter operation time (88 (75, 106) VS 122 (97, 144)min, P <0.001), less intraoperative blood loss(20 (20, 30) VS 25 (20, 50)ml, P = 0.021), shorten incision length (2.50 (2.50, 2.50) VS 3.00 (3.00, 3.50)cm, P <0.001), and more drainage volume (460 (310, 660) VS 345 (225, 600)ml, P = 0.041) than patients in the UVATS group. There was not significant difference in the lymph node stations dissected(5 (4, 5) VS 5 (4, 5), P = 0.436), drainage duration (3 (3, 4) VS 3 (3, 4)days, P = 0.743), length of postoperative hospital stay (4 (4, 5) VS 4 (4, 6)days, P = 0.608), VAS on the POD1(4 (4, 4) VS 4 (4, 4), P = 0.058)and POD3 (3 (3, 4) VS 4 (3, 4), P = 0.219), and incidence of postoperative complications (P = 0.521) between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Lu's approach is a safe and feasible approach for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for the lobectomy of NSCLC. This approach can shorten surgical time, reduce incision length and intraoperative blood loss.

Current diagnosis and treatment of salivary gland-type tumors of the lung

Salivary gland-type tumors of the lung are thought to originate from the submucosal exocrine glands of the large airways. Due to their rare occurrence, reports of their study are limited to small-scale or case reports. Therefore, daily clinical practices often require a search for previous reports. In the last 20 years, several genetic rearrangements have been identified, such as MYB::NF1B rearrangements in adenoid cystic carcinoma, CRTC1::MAML2 rearrangements in mucoepidermoid carcinoma, EWSR1::ATF1 rearrangements in hyalinizing clear cell carcinoma and rearrangements of the EWSR1 locus or FUS (TLS) locus in myoepithelioma and myoepithelial carcinoma. These molecular alterations have been useful in diagnosing these tumors, although they have not yet been linked to molecularly targeted therapies. The morphologic, immunophenotypic, and molecular characteristics of these tumors are similar to those of their counterparts of extrapulmonary origin, so clinical and radiologic differential diagnosis is required to distinguish between primary and metastatic disease of other primary sites. However, these molecular alterations can be useful in differentiating them from other primary lung cancer histologic types. The management of these tumors requires broad knowledge of the latest diagnostics, surgery, radiotherapy, bronchoscopic interventions, chemotherapy, immunotherapy as well as therapeutic agents in development, including molecularly targeted agents. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary salivary gland tumors, with a focus on adenoid cystic carcinoma and mucoepidermoid carcinoma, which are the two most common subtypes.

Innovative Techniques in Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery: Lu's Approach

Purpose

Lu's approach for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (LVATS), which derives from Uniportal Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery(UVATS), is a novel surgical approach for VATS and carries out micro-innovation for lung cancer resection. The objective of this study is to elucidate the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of this novel surgical approach.

Patients and Methods

The clinical data of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent a curative thoracoscopic lobectomy between Mar. 2021 and Mar. 2022, were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Patients were divided into the LVATS group and the UVATS group. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to reduce selection bias and create two comparable groups. Perioperative variables were compared, and a p-value < 0.05 was deemed statistically significant.

Results

A total of 182 patients were identified, among whom 86 patients underwent LVATS and 96 UVATS. Propensity matching produced 62 pairs in this retrospective study. There were no deaths during perioperative period. Patients in the LVATS group experienced a shorter operation time (88 (75, 106) VS 122 (97, 144) min, P <0.001), less intraoperative blood loss (20 (20, 30) VS 25 (20, 50) mL, P = 0.021), shorten incision length (2.50 (2.50, 2.50) VS 3.00 (3.00, 3.50) cm, P <0.001), and more drainage volume (460 (310, 660) VS 345 (225, 600) mL, P = 0.041) than patients in the UVATS group. There was not significant difference in the lymph node stations dissected (5 (4, 5) VS 5 (4, 5), P = 0.436), drainage duration (3 (3, 4) VS 3 (3, 4) days, P =0.743), length of postoperative hospital stay (4 (4, 5) VS 4 (4, 6) days, P = 0.608), VAS on the POD1 (4 (4, 4) VS 4 (4, 4), P=0.058) and POD3 (3 (3, 4) VS 4 (3, 4), P=0.219), and incidence of postoperative complications (P=0.521) between the two groups.

Conclusion

Lu's approach for video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy is safe and feasible, potentially reducing surgery time, incision length, and intraoperative blood loss.

Recent developments in the pathology of primary pulmonary salivary gland-type tumours

Primary pulmonary salivary gland-type tumours are rare neoplasms that are thought to arise from seromucinous glands that are located in the submucosa of large airways. These neoplasms have clinical and pathologic features that are distinct from other pulmonary neoplasms. The majority of primary pulmonary salivary gland-type tumours are malignant, with the most common entities being mucoepidermoid carcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, and epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma. Less commonly seen are myoepithelial carcinoma, hyalinizing clear cell carcinoma, acinic cell carcinoma, secretory carcinoma, salivary duct carcinoma, intraductal carcinoma, and polymorphous adenocarcinoma. Benign salivary gland-type tumours of the lung include pleomorphic adenoma and sialadenoma papilliferum. Morphologic, immunophenotypic, and molecular features of these neoplasms are largely similar to salivary gland tumours elsewhere, and therefore the exclusion of metastatic disease requires clinical and radiologic correlation. However, the differential diagnostic considerations are different in the lung. The distinction of salivary gland-type tumours from their histologic mimics is important for both prognostication and treatment decisions. Overall, salivary gland type-tumours tend to have a more favourable outcome than other pulmonary carcinomas, although high-grade variants exist for many of these tumour types. Recent advances in our understanding of the spectrum of salivary gland-type tumours reported in the lung and their diversity of molecular and immunohistochemical features have helped to refine the classification of these tumours and have highlighted a few differences between salivary gland-type tumours of the lung and those primary to other sites.