Pulmonary resection in a prone position for lung cancer invading the spine

The prone position is usually not selected for pulmonary resection. The intraoperative body position is an important issue in surgery for non-small cell lung cancer invading the spine because the standard intraoperative body position for a vertebrectomy is a prone position, while that for a pulmonary resection is a lateral decubitus position. Intraoperative changes in body position can cause several complications. Using an O-arm with a navigation system, a partial vertebrectomy was completed with the patient in a prone position thanks to the recognition of accurate surgical margins in the vertebral body; then, without changing the patient’s body position, a lobectomy with systemic lymph node dissection was performed via a posterior approach. Especially for procedures requiring a wide resection of the chest wall, a prone position can be selected for a lobectomy with systemic lymph node dissection via a posterior approach without any significant difficulties.