In patients undergoing minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery (video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, or VATS), a still unsolved issue is represented by intraoperative alveolar air leaks (IOAALs), which if prolonged beyond the fifth postoperative day can lead to higher risk of complications and higher medical costs. The polymeric hydrogel matrix (PHM) is a novel tool to manage intraoperative IOAALs. The primary end-point of our study was to verify whether PHM would be able to reduce postoperative air leaks; secondary end-points were the possible reduction of the permanence time of the chest drain (CD) and the hospital length (HL) in the PHM group compared with no treatment.
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presence of postoperative air leaks
Timeframe: days from end of surgery up to 40 days of postoperative follow-up