Abstract：?Objective?To evaluate clinical outcomes of single utility port complete video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery （VATS） lobectomy for patients with early-stage lung cancer.?Methods?We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 162 consecutive patients with early-stage lung cancer who underwent single utility port complete VATS lobectomy from September 2009 to October 2011 in Chinese PLA General Hospital （single utility port group），and compared them with 221 patients with early-stage lung cancer who underwent video-assisted mini-thoracotomy （VAMT） lobectomy in the same period （VAMT group）. The clinical outcomes including operation time, intraoperative blood loss, lymph node dissection number, time to first activity out of bed, chest drainage duration and postoperative complications, were compared between the two groups.?Results?No perioperative death was observed in both groups. There were statistical differences in the intraoperative blood loss （162.8±75.6 ml vs. 231.4±62.8 ml）, time to first activity out of bed （2.2±0.3 d vs. 3.7±0.5 d） , and chest drainage duration （3.5±0.2 d vs. 4.6±0.4 d） between the two groups （P＜0.05）. There was no statistical difference in operation time （133.7±22.0 min vs. 124.9±25.7 min） , lymph node dissection number （11.7±1.9 vs. 12.5±2.7）， and incidence of serious postoperative complications （7.4% vs. 8.1%）between the two groups.?Conclusion?Single utility port complete VATS lobectomy and lymph node dissection are safe and reliable for patients with early-stage lung cancer with less injury and better postoperative recovery compared with VAMT.
