Outcomes of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) of the included studies
| Method of diagnosis | First author (year) [ref.] | Biopsy method (n) | Diagnostic yield, % | Mortality, n (%) | Pneumothorax, n (%) | Prolonged air leak, n (%) | Pneumonia/empyema, n (%) | Haemothorax, n (%) | Thoracic pain, n (%) | ILD acute exacerbation, n (%) |
| Histology | ||||||||||
| Kayatta (2013) [53] | VATS (196) | 100 | 13 (6.7) | na | na | na | na | na | na | |
| Pompeo (2013) [48] | VATS (30) | 97 | na | na | 0 (0.0) | na | na | na | 0 (0.0) | |
| Morris (2014) [54] | VATS (66) | 74.2 | 1 (1.5) | 7 (10.6) | 1 (1.5) | 4 (6.1) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (4.5) | na | |
| Bagheri (2015) [55] | VATS (38) | 94.7 | na | na | 5 (13.1) | na | na | na | na | |
| Ravaglia (2016) [60] | VATS (150) | 98.7 | 4 (2.7) | na | 5 (3.3) | 3 (2.0) | na | na | 5 (3.3) | |
| Jeon (2018) [59] | VATS (35) | 100 | 0 (0.0) | na | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | na | 0 (0.0) | |
| Romagnoli (2019) [62] | VATS (21) | 57.1 | na | na | na | na | na | na | na | |
| Cherchi (2020) [51] | VATS (99) | 98 | 1 (1.0) | na | na | na | na | na | na | |
| MDD | ||||||||||
| Fibla (2012) [2] | VATS (224) | 87 | na | 6 (2.7) | 2 (0.9) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.4) | 8 (3.7) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Luo (2013) [52] | VATS (32) | 100 | 0 (0.0) | 8 (25.0) | na | 18 (56.3) | 1 (3.1) | na | 0 (0.0) | |
| Kayatta (2013) [53] | VATS (196) | 88.6 | 13 (6.7) | na | na | na | na | na | na | |
| Morris (2014) [54] | VATS (66) | 90.5 | 1 (1.5) | 7 (10.6) | 1 (1.5) | 4 (6.1) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (4.5) | na | |
| Samejima (2015) [56] | VATS (285) | 84.9 | 0 (0.0) | 11 (3.9) | 2 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | na | 3 (1.0) | |
| Khalil (2016) [57] | VATS (115) | 100 | 0 (0.0) | na | 0 (0.0) | na | na | na | 1 (0.8) | |
| Lieberman (2017) [58] | VATS (45) OLB (2) | 100 | 1 (2.1) | 5 (10.6) | na | na | na | 1 (2.1) | na | |
| Sugino (2019) [49] | VATS (143) | 100 | 0 (0.0) | 5 (3.5) | 4 (2.8) | na | na | na | 2 (1.4) | |
| Troy (2020) [61] | VATS (65) | 74 | 1 (2.0) | na | na | na | na | 1 (2.0) | 2 (3.1) | |
| Pastre (2021) [50] | VATS (268) | 94 | 4 (1.5) | 2 (0.7) | 1 (0.4) | 2 (0.7) | 1 (0.4) | na | 7 (2.6) | |
ILD: interstitial lung disease; MDD: multidisciplinary discussion; na: not available; OLB: open lung biopsy.