The drawbacks could be: 1) high initial cost for video thoracoscopic instrumentation; and 2) the risk of emergency thoracotomy for major bleeding.
In our analysis, we classified thoracotomy as a therapeutic intervention.
Through a left thoracotomy, transonic flow probes were placed around the pulmonary trunk and ascending aorta.
The majority of operations (72%) had to be performed on an emergency basis-mainly thoracotomies for pneumoand/or hemathoraces.
All vascular rings can be approached through the left chest but occasionally a right thoracotomy or a median sternotomy is more appropriate.
Reoperative coronary bypass grafting without cardiopulmonary bypass through a small thoracotomy.
At thoracotomy, dilated serpentine vessels were found on the surface of the right upper lobe, and the diagnosis of a large arteriovenous malformation was considered.
We performed 3 thoracotomies to control major chest bleeding (>300 ml/hr) and a pericardiectomy following three episodes of cardiac tamponade.
