Background: Surgery for esophageal cancer usually carries considerable complication and mortality rate. Adequate preoperative evaluation is mandatory to decrease complication rate. Hand-grip strength is a useful measure to assess the extent of aging, nutrition and patient's overall condition. Because preoperative nutrition state and physiologic aging process play important roles in postoperative recovery, we would like to know if hand-grip strength is an adequate tool for such evaluation. Material and methods: From January 1st, 2007 to December 31, 2008, there was 68 cases underwent esophagectomy with reconstruction due to esophageal cancer in our hospital. After excluding 7 patients of incomplete data and loss of follow-up, there were 61 patients included in the study.

Background: Complete resection seemed to be curative in patients with Castleman disease of any location but the disease is likely to be reactive in its pathogenesis. The relation between Epstein-Barr virus and Castleman disease has not been elucidated. We tried to define the role of Epstein-Barr virus in the pathogenesis of Castleman disease.

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BackgroundThoracoscopic surgery is a commonly used endoscopic surgical treatment approach in patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax. The conventional thoracoscopic approach utilizes three or more small wounds for surgery. Currently, a single port approach is a potential alternative procedure in general thoracoscopic surgery. We investigated whether a single-port approach is suitable as a first-line endoscopic approach for all patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax requiring surgery.MethodsFrom July 1st, 2008 to Dec 31, 2009, a total of 62 patients was included in this study. All the patients were admitted to our ward because they had surgical indications for surgery. Twenty-six patients underwent conventional three-port thoracoscopic surgery and thirty-six underwent single-port thoracoscopic surgery. All of the clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. Variables were compared and analyzed to determine the outcomes of the different surgical approaches.ResultsThe mean age of the 62 patients was 27.2 years. Forty-nine patients were men and thirteen patients were women. The mean time required for the operation was 61.6 minutes. There was one patient who had a recurrence in single-port group and 2 patients had a recurrence in three-port group during the period of follow-up. The average pain scores at 24 and 48 hrs after the operation were similar, but the pain scores at 72 hrs in the single-port group were better than the three-port group. There was no case that required conversion from a single-port to multiple wound approach in this study. There was no immediate postoperative recurrence. The follow-up duration was greater than 12 months.ConclusionThis study showed that single-port thoracoscopic surgery is a feasible and reasonable first-line endoscopic approach in the surgical treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax.

A 65-year-old woman presented with mild dysphagia, weight loss and intermittent palpitation. Chest radiograph revealed a large opacity in the right lower lung field. Subsequent CT scan showed a large posterior mediastinal lipoma extending from the level of the aortic arch to the thoracoabdominal junction. After thoracoscopic resection, the patient's dysphagia and palpitation were resolved. After a follow-up of 2 years, the patient has had no evidence of recurrence.

Lobar torsion after lung resection is a quite rare complication. A 50-year-old woman presented typical features on chest radiographs and CT(computed tomography) scan of lobar torsion after a right upper lobectomy. After emergency lobectomy of right middle lobe, the patient recovered well and discharged 10 days after the second operation.

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