Source: Science and Technology Daily 2013-02-22 Page 12
Written by: Huang Jinjuan

Recently, Professor Long Hao, (Director of Lung Cancer Institute of Sun Yat-sen University; Professor of Thoracic Surgery, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University) published his latest operation video titled “Thoracoscopic Internal Mammary Lymph Node Dissection: A Video Demonstration” in one of the top academic journals in surgical oncology Annals of Surgical Oncology, which indicated this new minimally invasive procedure was accredited by international academic world.

According to Professor Long, the major advantages of this new operation included: 1. VATS internal mammary lymph node dissection, compared to lymph node sampling, guarantees the accuracy of the diagnosis and staging in internal mammary lymph nodes, because the whole internal mammary lymphatic chain has been removed. 2. The new surgical technique is not only a diagnostic, but also therapeutic procedure. Even if there is metastasis in the internal mammary lymph nodes, further radiation therapy could be spared, and therefore the radiation-related cardiac toxicity could be avoided. 3. The new operation combines Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS), a minimally invasive surgical technique, which normally could help patients recover quickly.

As a novel operation published in the form of an edited streaming video, the peer-review process of Annals of Surgical Oncology was extremely comprehensive and strict. Finally, this innovation was accredited by international leading experts in the relevant area after careful revisions. One of the experts commented on the paper, “Excellent video and a very different approach to the problem of internal mammary nodal metastasis than has been taken on this continent. Recommend acceptance, and would urge the authors to prospectively study the effects of such a procedure on survival endpoints.” So far, more than 100 patients have received and benefited from this new surgical intervention. Especially for those breast cancer patients with medial or central tumors, early involvement of internal mammary lymph nodes is not uncommon. VATS internal mammary lymph node dissection is designed to “kill two birds with one stone”, namely, precise assessment and management of internal mammary lymph node metastasis. More impressively, the patients with sole internal mammary lymph node involvement may benefit more from this operation and the following individual therapies.