Abstract: Background and purpose: For stage Ⅰ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), video-assisted thoracic segmentectomy is given much attention to by thoracic surgeon because of the less tissue damages. However, video-assisted thoracic lobectomy is still considered as the standard treatment in the world. Therefore, this study was to evaluate the clinical effect after video-assisted thoracic segmentectomy and lobectomy in patients with stage Ⅰ NSCLC in order to provide reference for clinical application. Methods: The comparative studies on video-assisted thoracic segmentectomy and lobectomy treating stage I NSCLC were retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM, VIP, and Wanfang Data. All data were acquired until July 2015. Literature screening according to data extraction and quality assessment was completed by two reviewers independently. Meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan 5.3 software which was offered by Cochrane network. Results: A total of 11 articles involving 1 677 patients were finally included. The results of meta-analysis indicated that: for stage Ⅰ NSCLC, compared with video-assisted thoracic lobectomy, the effect of video-assisted thoracic segmentectomy was alike in total mortality (OR=0.77, 95%CI: 0.48 to 1.21, P=0.25), 5-year mortality (OR=0.77, 95%CI: 0.52 to 1.14, P=0.19) and systemic complications (OR=0.76, 95%CI: 0.53 to 1.09, P=0.13), but could reduce blood loss [difference in means (MD)=-41.16, 95%CI: -59.46 to -22.86, P<0.000 1], chest tube duration (MD=-0.29, 95%CI: -0.49 to -0.09, P=0.005) and the length of hospital stay (MD=-0.74, 95%CI: -1.44 to -0.05, P=0.04). Conclusion: Compared with video-assisted thoracic lobectomy, video-assisted thoracic segmentectomy can significantly reduce blood loss, chest tube duration and length of hospital stay. However, the two kinds of operation methods achieved the same effects on the total mortality, 5-year mortality and systemic complications. Thoracoscopic segmentectomy may be an alternative to thoracic lobectomy.

Key words: Segmentectomy, Lobectomy, Non-small cell lung cancer, Meta-analysis