Fig. 3

Intraoperative findings during video-assisted thoracic surgery. In all images, the cephalic direction is to the left and the caudal direction to the right. a, b Discharge of patent blue V was observed (black arrow). Lung adhesions were observed in the surrounding areas. c, d The thoracic duct running dorsally to the aorta was stained blue (black arrow, black dotted line). d is an enlarged version of c. e The thoracic duct was ligated to the surrounding connective tissue (black arrow)