Objective To study the application value of preoperative medical adhesive locating in performing thoracoscopy for small pulmonary nodules (SPN).Methods The clinical data of 41 patients with solitary SPN,who received thoracoscopy with the help of preoperative locating procedure,were retrospective analyzed.The preoperative locating methods included medical adhesive locating (n=22,medical adhesive group) and Hook-wire locating (n=19,Hook-wire group).The locating effects,complications,the time of engagement stage and the time used for pulmonary wedge resection were determined,and the results were compared between the two groups.Results The locating of SPN was successfully accomplished in all patients of both groups.The incidences of pneumothorax,pulmonary hemorrhage and chest pain in the medical adhesive group were 18.2％,9.1％ and 4.5％ respectively,which were lower than those in the Hook-wire group;among them the difference in the incidence of pulmonary hemorrhage between the two groups was statistically significant (P＜0.01).No-complication rate in the medical adhesive group (63.6％) was higher than that in the Hook-wire group (21.1％),and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05).The time of engagement stage for patients in the medical adhesive group was (16.32±8.83) hours,which was longer than (3.29±4.21) hours in the Hook-wire group,the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P＜0.01).The time used for puhnonary wedge resection in the medical adhesive group and in the Hook-wire group was (21.14±7.01) min and (18.58±5.22) min respectively,the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (P＞0.05).Conclusion Preoperative medical adhesive locating for the performance of thoracoscopy for SPN is safe and effective,it carries less complications when compared with Hook-wirelocating method and can obtain a longer interwal period,therefore,this technique has high application valuein clinical practice.