Objective To systematically review the sex differences in efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods We conducted a computer search of Medline, The Cochrane Library, and EMbase from inception to November 2022 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the efficacy of ICIs in patients with NSCLC. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software. Results Finally 16 RCTs with a total of 9 653 patients were included, and the modified Jadad scale score was≥4 points. Meta-analysis results showed that in female NSCLC patients receiving immune therapy, the median overall survival (OS) [HR=0.72, 95%CI (0.61, 0.85), P<0.001] was longer than that in males [HR=0.73, 95%CI (0.69, 0.78), P<0.001]. Males [HR=0.64, 95%CI (0.58, 0.71), P<0.001] had an advantage over females [HR=0.76, 95%CI (0.57, 1.03), P=0.760] in median progression-free survival (PFS). Conclusion Females receiving ICIs have an advantage over males in terms of median OS. However, males tend to derive greater benefit from ICIs in terms of median PFS.

Objective To evaluate the safety and feasibility of remote robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery utilizing 5G technology. Methods Clinical data from five patients who underwent 5G remote robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery at the Thoracic Surgery Center of Gansu Provincial People's Hospital from May to October 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. Results Finally, five patients were included. There were 2 males and 3 females at median age of 50 (42-63) years. All five surgeries (including 1 patient of lobectomy, 3 patients of partial lung resection and 1 patient of mediastinal lesion resection) were successfully completed without conversion to thoracotomy, complications, or mortality. The median intraoperative signal delay across the patients was 39 (37-42) ms. The median psychological load score for the surgeons was 9 (3-13). The median operation time was 100 (80-122) minutes with a median intraoperative blood loss of 100 (30-200) mL. Catheter drainage lasted a median of 4 (3-5) days, and the median drainage volumes on the first, second, and third postoperative day were 200 (100-300) mL, 150 (60-220) mL, and 80 (30-180) mL, respectively. The median postoperative hospital stay was 4 (3-7) days, and the median pain scores on the third postoperative day were 3 (1-4), 3 (0-3), and 1 (0-3), respectively. Conclusion 5G remote robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is safe and effective, with good surgical experience, smooth operation and small intraoperative delay.

Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) as first-line treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods PubMed, The Cochrane Library, and EMbase databases were searched for clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of ICIs as first-line treatment for NSCLC patients. The search period was from database inception to January 2023. Quality evaluation was conducted using the improved Jadad scale, and meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software. Results Twelve RCTs were included, all of which were assessed as high-quality literature, involving a total of 7 121 patients. Meta-analysis results showed that, compared with chemotherapy, ICIs as first-line treatment for NSCLC patients significantly improved median overall survival (OS) [HR=0.72, 95%CI (0.64, 0.80), P<0.001] and median progression-free survival (PFS) [HR=0.65, 95%CI (0.53, 0.78), P<0.001], and improved objective response rate (ORR) [RR=1.52, 95%CI (1.28, 1.79), P<0.001]. Subgroup analysis showed that, compared with the ICIs monotherapy group, the ICIs combination therapy group significantly improved OS, PFS, and ORR in NSCLC patients. In terms of safety, the risk of any grade treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) and grade 3-5 TRAEs in the ICIs group was lower than that in the chemotherapy group. The incidence of TRAEs leading to treatment discontinuation was higher in the ICIs group than in the chemotherapy group. Subgroup analysis showed that the incidence of any grade, grade 3-5, and TRAEs leading to treatment discontinuation was higher in the immune combination therapy group than in the immune monotherapy group. Conclusion ICIs as first-line treatment for NSCLC patients can significantly improve OS, PFS, and ORR compared with chemotherapy. Compared to immune monotherapy, immune combination therapy can significantly improve the efficacy in NSCLC patients, but patients have a higher risk of TRAEs.

Objective To systematically evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of McKeown and Sweet methods in the treatment of esophageal cancer. Methods PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Wanfang, VIP, CNKI and Chinese Biomedical Literature database were searched for literature on the short-term efficacy and safety of McKeown and Sweet methods in the treatment of esophageal cancer published from the establishment to May 2023. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate the quality of researches, and meta-analysis was performed using RevMan5.4. Results A total of 9 articles were included, involving 3687 patients including 1019 in the McKeown group and 2668 in the Sweet group. NOS score was 8-9 points. There were no statistical differences in the age, sex or American Joint Committee on Cancer stage between the two groups (P>0.05). Patients in the McKeown group had longer operative time and hospital stay, more intraoperative blood loss, and higher Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group scores than those in the Sweet group (P<0.05). However, the McKeown operation could remove more lymph nodes (P=0.001). In terms of safety, the incidences of pulmonary complications [OR=2.20, 95%CI (1.40, 3.46), P=0.001] and postoperative anastomotic leakage [OR=2.06, 95%CI (1.45, 2.92), P=0.001] were higher in the McKeown group than those in the Sweet group. In addition, there were no statistical differences between the two groups in the Karnofsky score, cardiac complications, vocal cord injury or paralysis, chylous leakage, or gastric emptying (P>0.05). Conclusion Compared with McKeown, Sweet method has advantages in operation time, intraoperative blood loss and hospital stay, and has lower incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications and anastomotic leakage. However, McKeown has more lymph node dissection.

Malignant mesothelioma cases are rare and have a long incubation period,making the disease a difficult subject to clinically research.Animal models of malignant mesothelioma are crucial for experimental research and elucidating the pathogenesis of malignant mesothelioma.Common animal models include spontaneous,inducible,transplantable,and genetically engineered models,but the applicability of different animal models varies.This article reviews studies related to the establishment of animal models of malignant mesothelioma published in the past 10 years.Recent progress made in the establishment of four animal models of malignant mesothelioma is summarized from three aspects:modeling method,modeling result,and model advantages and disadvantages.This review summarizes and analyzes the current progress made in the establishment of animal models of malignant mesothelioma and thus provides a reference for basic malignant mesothelioma research using animal models.

Objective    To compare the clinical efficacy of different surgical approaches for Siewert type Ⅱ adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction (AEG). Methods    The clinical data of the patients with Siewert type Ⅱ AEG who received sugeries in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Gansu Provincial People's Hospital from August 2014 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups according to the surgical approach: a transabdominal group (transabdominal diaphragmatic esophageal hiatus approach) and a combined group (thoracoabdominal combined with right thoracic approach). Perioperative clinical data and postoperative follow-up data were collected to compare the short- and long-term efficacy of the two groups. Results     A total of 87 patients were enrolled. There were 48 patients (31 males and 17 females, with an average age of 60.85±8.47 years) in the transabdominal group, and 39 patients (25 males and 14 females, with an average age of 61.13±8.51 years) in the combined group. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in the baseline indicators such as gender, age, tumor size and stage (P>0.05). Compared with the combined group, the operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative bed rest time, postoperative total drainage volume were shorter or less, and the visual analogue scale score on the 3rd day after surgery were lower in the transabdominal group (P<0.05). However, the total number of lymph nodes dissected, the number of thoracic lymph nodes dissected and the number of positive thoracic lymph nodes in the combined group were larger than those in the transabdominal group, and the differences were statistically significant (P=0.001). The median survival time in the combined group and transabdominal group was 25.85 months and 20.86 months, respectively. The 3-year overall survival rate of the combined group was higher than that of the transabdominal group (46.2% vs. 38.9%, χ2=5.995, P=0.014). However, there was no statistical difference between the two groups in the postoperative catheter time, esophageal and gastric resection margin distance, number of abdominal lymph nodes dissected, number of positive abdominal lymph nodes, or incidence of postoperative complications (P>0.05). Conclusion    For patients with Siewert type Ⅱ adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction, thoracoabdominal combined with right thoracic approach is safe and effective, and has advantages in thoracic lymph node dissection, bringing more benefits to the patients, so it is recommended to be popularized in clinical practice.

Objective To evaluate the short-term outcome of robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) for the treatment of posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumour. Methods The clinical data of consecutive patients with mediastinal neurogenic tumors who received RATS treatment completed by the same operator in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gansu Provincial People's Hospital from June 2016 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The tumors were preoperatively localized and evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging or enhanced CT. Results A total of 35 patients were enrolled, including 19 males and 16 females with a mean age of 34.9±7.1 years. All patients successfully completed the resection of posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumors under RATS, and no conversion to thoracotomy occurred during the operation. The average operative time was 62.3±18.0 min, docking time was 10.3±2.6 min, intraoperative bleeding was 33.9±21.6 mL, postoperative 24-hour chest drainage was 69.0±28.9 mL, postoperative chest drainage time was 2.0 (1.0, 3.0) d and the postoperative hospital stay was 3.0 (2.0, 4.0) d. Postoperative complications occurred in 3 patients, including 2 patients with transient Honor syndrome and 1 patient with transient anhidrosis of the affected upper limb. Conclusion RATS for posterior mediastinal neurogenic tumours is safe, effective and feasible, and allows the full benefit of the robotic surgical system to be exploited.

Objective To evaluate the short-term outcomes and hospital costs of robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) versus video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for non-small cell lung cancer. Methods The clinical data of patients who underwent lobectomy or sublobar resection for non-small cell lung cancer completed by the same operator in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gansu Provincial Hospital from June 2016 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the surgery approach, the patients were divided into a RATS group and a VATS group. The clinical data of the two groups were compared. Results A total of 516 patients were enrolled. There were 254 patients in the RATS group, including 103 males and 151 females, with a mean age of 60.0±4.2 years, and 262 patients in the VATS group, including 126 males and 136 females, with a mean age of 59.5±4.3 years. All patients in both groups successfully completed radical lung cancer surgery with no perioperative death. In terms of intraoperative bleeding (63.4±13.3 mL vs. 92.5±23.5 mL), postoperative drainage time (4.1±0.9 d vs. 4.7±1.2 d), postoperative hospital stay time (5.6±1.1 d vs. 6.7±1.4 d), number of lymph nodes dissected (17.9±2.1 vs. 13.9±1.4) and groups of lymph nodes dissected (5.4±0.8 groups vs. 4.4±1.0 groups), the RATS group had an advantage, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). In terms of operative time and total postoperative chest drainage, the VATS group had an advantage, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of postoperative complications or intraoperative conversion to thoractomy (P>0.05). The total hospitalization, surgical and total consumables costs of the RATS group were higher than those in the VATS group (P<0.05). In terms of other costs and consumables costs (one-time costs of purely high-value consumables after deduction of robot-specific costs), the VATS group was higher than the RATS group (P<0.05). Conclusion RATS offers technical and short-term efficacy advantages, but comes with the disadvantage of high costs. Thoracic surgeons can make full use of the features of the robotic surgery system, exploiting its potential to continuously improve and optimize techniques and reduce the use of high-value consumables, thus achieving efficiency and cost reductions and allowing robotic surgery to reach more patients.

Objective To systematically evaluate of the difference in clinical outcomes between Da-Vinci robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for mediastinal tumor resection. Methods Online databases including The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, SinoMed, CNKI, and Wanfang were searched by two researchers independently from inception to October 10, 2022. The quality of the included literature was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). The meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.3. Results A total of 23 studies with 5 646 patients were enrolled in the final study. The NOS scores of the studies were≥6 points. The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with the VATS group, the blood loss was less [MD=−18.11, 95%CI (−26.12, −10.09), P＜0.001], time of postoperative drainage tube retention [MD=−0.79, 95%CI (−1.09, −0.49), P＜0.001] and postoperative hospitalization time [MD=−1.00, 95%CI (−1.36, −0.64), P＜0.001] were shorter, postoperative day 1 drainage [MD=−5.53, 95%CI (−9.94, −1.12), P=0.010] and total postoperative drainage [MD=−88.41, 95%CI (−140.85, −35.97), P=0.001] were less, the rates of postoperative complications [OR=0.66, 95%CI (0.46, 0.94), P=0.020] and conversion to thoracotomy [OR=0.32, 95%CI (0.19, 0.53), P＜0.001] were lower, and the hospitalization costs were higher [MD=2.60, 95%CI (1.40, 3.79), P＜0.001] in the RATS group. The operative time was not statistically different between the two groups [MD=5.94, 95%CI (−1.45, 13.34), P=0.120]. Conclusion RATS mediastinal tumor resection has a high safety profile. Compared with VATS, patients have less intraoperative blood loss, a lower rate of conversion to thoracotomy, and shorter postoperative tube time and hospital stay, which is more conducive to rapid postoperative recovery.

Objective To systematically evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of lung subsegmentectomy and segmentectomy in the treatment of small pulmonary nodules. Methods Computer searches were conducted on PubMed, The Cochrane Library, EMbase, Scopus, Web of Science, SinoMed, Wanfang Data, VIP, and CNKI databases to collect relevant literature on the short-term efficacy and safety of lung subsegmentectomy and segmentectomy for small pulmonary nodules from the inception to April 2024. Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted data according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software, and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess the quality of the selected literature. Results A total of 15 retrospective cohort studies with 2417 patients were included, among whom 796 patients underwent lung subsegmentectomy and 1621patients underwent segmentectomy. The NOS scores of the included literature were all≥6 points. Meta-analysis results showed that compared with segmentectomy, lung subsegmentectomy had a lower overall postoperative complication rate [OR=0.54, 95%CI (0.39, 0.75), P<0.01] and fewer lymph nodes dissected [MD=−0.43, 95%CI (−0.81, −0.06), P=0.02]. There was no statistical difference between the two surgical methods in terms of operation time [MD=5.11, 95%CI (−4.02, 14.23), P=0.27], intraoperative blood loss [MD=−14.62, 95%CI (−29.58, 0.34), P=0.06], postoperative hospital stay [MD=−0.24, 95%CI (−0.49, 0.01), P=0.06], postoperative drainage time [MD=−0.14, 95%CI (−0.46, 0.18), P=0.40], intraoperative margin width [MD=0.10, 95%CI (−0.16, 0.35), P=0.46], or recurrence rate [OR=1.57, 95%CI (0.53, 4.61), P=0.42]. Subgroup analysis results showed that when using uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopy for surgery, compared with segmentectomy, lung subsegmentectomy had less intraoperative blood loss [MD=−15.57, 95%CI (−28.84, −2.30), P=0.02], shorter postoperative hospital stay [MD=−0.49, 95%CI (−0.63, −0.35), P<0.01], shorter postoperative drainage time [MD=−0.19, 95%CI (−0.35, −0.03), P=0.02], and lower overall complication rate [OR=0.55, 95%CI (0.31, 0.98), P=0.04]. Conclusion Lung subsegmentectomy can achieve similar efficacy as segmentectomy and has a lower overall postoperative complication rate. In terms of safety, lung subsegmentectomy can achieve a margin range close to that of segmentectomy. When performing uniportal thoracoscopic surgery, lung subsegmentectomy has advantages over segmentectomy in terms of intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, and drainage time.