Postero-apical thoracic schwannoma with cervical extension resected by complete video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery

• Main Authors: Harry Etienne, Apostolos C. Agrafiotis, Hicham Masmoudi, Jalal Assouad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 2019-05-01
• Series: Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease
• Subjects: Schwannoma; complete VATS; neurilemmoma; cervical extension
• Online Access: https://monaldi-archives.org/index.php/macd/article/view/1073

Schwannomas or neurilemmomas are benign tumors developed from the peripheral nervous system. Complete video-assisted thoracic surgery (cVATS) has set itself over the years as the preferred approach for the removal of small mediastinal neurogenic tumors. However, in case of apical location, complete VATS seems challenging because of proximity with the subclavian artery and/or elements of the brachial plexus. In case of a cVATS procedure, some authors prefer enucleation instead of resection, with a higher risk of relapse. We present two cases of cVATS resection of thoracic apical schwannomas.