Study to See if Microcoil Insertion Reduces the Rate of Open Thoracotomy for Removal of Lung Nodules

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LAY ABSTRACT 1. Statement of the health problem or issue: Of the estimated 24,000 Canadians who will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008, 21,000 will die of their disease. Based on this cancer incidence and survival data, the most promising current strategy for improving outcome is screening and early detection. It is suggested that if lesions are discovered at an earlier stage of disease, they will have a higher likelihood of being treatable and therefore, survival will be improved. CT detection of growing small lung nodules, many of which are non-cancerous (benign), raises the possibility of lung cancer and thus causes anxiety in patients and referring clinicians. Unfortunately, confident separation of benign from malignant small lung nodules cannot be reliably achieved using CT or PET criteria. Pathologic diagnosis using needle or excision biopsy is usually required. Excision biopsy removes the entire nodule at one setting and eliminates the sampling error associated with needle biopsy, making it appealing to physicians and patients. To reduce post-operative pain and breathing difficulties, excision biopsy is often performed using minimally invasive surgery (video assisted thoracoscopic surgery, VATS). Finding small pulmonary nodules is often difficult with the minimally invasive camera (VATS) and a bigger incision (thoracotomy) is necessary in more than 60% of our patients. We recently developed a technique of using platinum micro-coils, which are inserted in the lung nodule using CT guidance, to locate the nodule with fluoroscopy and then excise it with VATS. We have completed a pilot study (n=75 nodules; 69 patients) to determine the effectiveness of this technique. Seventy three (97%) 4-24-mm nodules were successfully removed at fluoroscopically guided VATS excision. 2. Objective of your project: To improve our ability to successfully excise small growing lung nodules with minimally invasive VATS surgery using CT guided micro-coil localization techniques. 3. How will you undertake your work? We propose to conduct a randomized controlled trial to determine if the use of CT guided platinum microcoil markers for VATS excision of subcentimetre pulmonary nodules can reduce the rate of conversion to open thoracotomy from 50% to 10%. 4. What is unique/innovative about your project? New image guided minimally invasive surgical technique for removing early growing cancers was developed at the Vancouver General Hospital and the University of British Columbia. This has been published in peer-reviewed journals and can potentially allow us to accurately locate and excise suspicious lung nodules 5. Relevance to Lung Association's mission statement? Lung cancer remains a major health problem in Canada. Early detection and screening programs allow for discovery of nodules when they are still very small and therefore, likely curable. Excision biopsy removes the entire nodule at one setting and eliminates the sampling error associated with needle biopsy, making it appealing to patients and physicians. To reduce post operative morbidity, costs and volume of lung removed, excision biopsy is often performed using video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) techniques. Using a pilot project grant from the BC Lung Association we have developed a new technique that allows preoperative CT marking of the nodule and minimally invasive removal of the lesion. We hope that this technique will allow earlier treatment of lung cancers and improve survival in this devastating disease.

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