Objective:

To evaluate the clinical significance of intraoperative ultrasound (IU) in localization of pulmonary nodules in video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS).

Methods:

The pulmonary solid nodules of 38 patients were localized by IU at random

and the parameters were measured when suspicious echo was found. The results were compared with CT and pathological findings.

Results:

Totally 34 cases (89.5%) were identified by IU and were clearly positioned. On CT the maximum nodular diameter and the distance between lesion and pleura in positive and negativ

e patients were (1.760.66) cm and (1.000.14) cm (

P

0.05)

(1.040.65) cm and (2.050.24) cm (

P

0.05)

respectively. IU showed that the nodule size was similar to those on CT and postoperative pathological specimens (

P

0.05). The median operation time of IU was 5 min.

Conclusion:

IU can safely and effectively localize pulmonary nodules and define the surgical boundaries in VATS

especially for the non-palpable lesions during operation.