Weder, W.

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Reply to the Letter to the EditorReply to RogersW. Weder*Department of Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, RaÈmistrasse 100, Zurich CH-8091, SwitzerlandReceived 7 July 2000; accepted 11 September 2000Thank you for your comments regarding the article on`Early and long term complaints following video-assistedthoracoscopic surgery: evaluation in 173 patients'.The purpose of our article was the assessment of early andlong term pain after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery(VATS), time of incapacity for work and patient satisfactionwith scar cosmetics. We found an impressively high numberof patients with a very early recovery and rapid reintegrationinto the working process after VATS.However, as you pointed out there is a signi®cant numberof patients with long term complaints after VATS. Approxi-mately 10% had moderate to severe pain at 3 months and5% at 1 year. We considered this information as interestingfor physicians and especially important for counsellingpatients before a VATS procedure. In our article we didnot state that chronic postthoracoscopy pain is signi®cantlylower compared to open thoracotomy. This could only beassessed in a prospective randomized study.In this regard we fully agree.European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery 18 (2000) 7381010-7940/00/$ - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.PII: S1010-7940(00)00577-7www.elsevier.com/locate/ejcts* Tel.: 141-1-255-8801; fax: 141-1-255-8805.E-mail address: walter.weder@chi.usz.ch (W. Weder).

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