Hey Kathy V-

I actually just did a paper on this (statistically). I had the trannsternal approach 3 years ago, and wish i would have gotten the opporunity to have the VATS.

In my research i found that the VATS is just as effective, but not if the growth is too large. So make sure that they take into account the size of the growth. I dont remember how big mine was, but it was large, so they said going with the transsternal was the best idea.



My paper explains this much better, if you want, post your email here and I will send you the paper and it explains the positive and negative repercussions of the surgery.

Good luck!