Table 3.
Comparison of surgical, perioperative, and pathological outcomes.
| Variable | Preoperative ICI (n = 25) |
Control (n = 34) |
p |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surgical outcomes | |||
| Operative time, min | 180.6 ± 54.6 | 192.8 ± 68.4 | 0.81 |
| Conversion after VATS, n (%) | 6/17 (35.3) | 4/20 (20.0) | 0.46 |
| Intraoperative mortality, n (%) | 0 | 0 | - |
| Surgeon-reported difficulties | |||
| Challenging dissection, n (%) | 7 (28.0) | 10 (29.4) | 0.91 |
| Adhesions, n (%) | 15 (60.0) | 16 (47.1) | 0.73 |
| Tissue fibrosis or inflammation, n (%) | 10 (40.0) | 1 (2.9) | <0.0004 |
| Intraoperative vascular wound, n (%) | 3 (12.0) | 4 (11.8) | >0.99 |
| Procedure adapted during surgery *, n (%) | 3 (12.0) | 2 (5.9) | 0.64 |
| Perioperative outcomes | |||
| Total hospital LOS, days | 7 (5–11) | 7 (6–9) | 0.74 |
| ICU LOS, days | 1 (0–1] | 1 (0–2) | 0.79 |
| 90-day mortality, n (%) | 0 | 0 | - |
| Perioperative complications—any grade | 12 (48.0) | 16 (47.1) | 0.94 |
| Persistent air leak, n (%) | 4 | 6 | - |
| Pneumonia, n (%) | 6 | 4 | - |
| Recurrent nerve palsy, n (%) | 2 | 5 | - |
| Respiratory failure, n (%) | 2 | 3 | - |
| Persistent pleural effusion, n (%) | 2 | 0 | - |
| Intrathoracic bleeding, n (%) | 1 | 3 | - |
| Arrythmia, n (%) | 2 | 1 | - |
| Atelectasis, n (%) | 0 | 3 | - |
| Sepsis, n (%) | 1 | 1 | - |
| Anastomosis failure, n (%) | 1 | 0 | - |
| Acute urinary retention, n (%) | 0 | 1 | - |
| Pathological outcomes | |||
| R0 achieved, n (%) | 24 (96.0) | 31 (91.2) | 0.63 |
| RVT present, n (%) | 18 (72.0) | 29 (85.2) | 0.33 |
| Major pathological response °, n (%) | 12 (44.0) | 8 (23.5) | 0.05 |
| pCR, n (%) | 7 (28.0) | 5 (14.7) | 0.21 |
Abbreviations: LOS: length of stay; ICU: intensive care unit; RVT: residual viable tumour; pCR: pathological complete response. * Procedure adapted during surgery: difficulties encountered during intervention caused a modification in surgery scope compared to preoperative plans. ° Major pathological response was defined as a RVT ≤ 10%. As per Bonferroni correction for 14 comparisons, a p < 0.0036 indicates statistical significance here.