Studio Osservazionale Retrospettivo Uneventful Vatslobectomy: Caratteristiche Cliniche

Data source The Italian VATS Group Database is a validated, risk-adjusted, prospective, outcomes-based program with 50 participating hospitals in Italy. The VATS Group Database collects data on different variables on a standardized data form: patient demographics informations, surgical interventions, medical history, cancer staging and outcome. Patients' outcomes are reviewed and records are updated the first time at 30 days after surgery, then at 180 days. Next update is recorded at 6 months from surgery and every 6 months for the first 2 years of follow-up, and annually thereafter. The VATS Group Database implements rigorous quality assurance and safety procedures to maintain a high level of accuracy and security of data.

The study has been approved by hospital ethics committee. The current analysis was reviewed and approved for scientific merit and feasibility by the VATS Group Scientific Committee and presented at the annual VATS Group meeting.

Patient population and study design Study population consisted of patients who received intended VATS lobectomy as the primary procedure for NSCLC at VATS Group participating centres and included in the VATS Group database between January 2014 and January 2020. We excluded all patients with incomplete clinical, intraoperative and postoperative data. Data entered from centers sporadically (less than 10 cases per year) were also excluded.

In order to analyse the factors related to lenght of stay, the study design provides a comparison between two groups of patients: the first group, identified as "LOS ≤ 4" including all patient disharged within 4 days after surgery, while the second group, called "LOS > 4" including all cases discharged after the fourth postoperative day.

Covariates We compared selected clinical variables to analyse the presence of a possible association with lenght of stay: data were divided into preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative.