Non-intubated (tubeless) uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy

During the last decade, there have been important developments in new minimally invasive surgical techniques for major pulmonary resections (1). Advances in anesthesiology include a lack of general anesthesia in thoracic operations, by maintaining spontaneous ventilation, and minimal sedation of patients. The choice of a single-incision technique combined with the lack of general anesthesia further minimize the invasiveness of the procedure (2). Moreover, a ‘tubeless’ concept can be perfectly applied to these procedures. This involves the complete absence of a tracheal tube or even laryngeal mask, central line, urinary catheter or epidural. We present a video showing three cases of non-intubated (tubeless) uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) major pulmonary resections (Video 1). Video 1 Non-intubated (tubeless) uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy.