Materials and Methods: Seventy-seven patients who underwent VATS in our hospital between March 1 and June 30, 2018 were evaluated retrospectively. Postoperative pain was assessed at 2, 6, and 24 hours postoperatively using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The short-form 36 (SF-36) quality of life questionnaire was used to assess early quality of life.

Results: Of the 74 patients in the study, 50 were male (67.6%) and 24 were female (32.4%). Mean VAS score was 6.84 ± 1.63 at postoperative hour 2, 4.19 ± 1.36 at postoperative hour 6, and 2.58 ± 1.20 at postoperative day 1. Geriatric patients had significantly higher VAS pain scores at postoperative hour 6 and day 1 (p = 0.011, p = 0.013). Patients with benign disease had significantly higher quality of life compared to patients with malignancy (p < 0.001). The presence of complications and advanced age were associated with lower postoperative quality of life.

Conclusions: Although VATS patients have less severe pain and better quality of life in the early postoperative period, patients with malignancy had worse physical, psychological, and emotional state. In addition, geriatric patients and patients with early postoperative complications showed larger decreases in early postoperative quality of life. Keywords : quality of life, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, tumor, lung cancer, treatment