Treatment of Early Stage Lung Cancer by VATS Versus OPEN Lobectomy

Rationale: Surgical lobectomy is the treatment of choice for patients with early stage lung cancer. In some centres, video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lobectomy is preferred, where other centres hold on to the conventional open lobectomy via a thoracotomy. Although several studies have demonstrated fewer postoperative complications and shorter hospital length of stay for the VATS procedure, others have reported concerns regarding oncologic equivalence, mainly based on incomplete lymph node staging. Convincing randomized evidence from the literature is lacking. The aim of this randomized multicentre study is to compare quality of life, oncologic endpoints and cost-effectiveness between VATS- and open (thoracotomy) lobectomy. Objective: To compare quality of life, cost-effectiveness and number of dissected mediastinal lymph nodes between open,VATS and ROBOT-assisted lobectomy. Study design: A prospective multi-centre randomized trial with a prospective registry arm Study population: Adult patients of either gender, selected by the pulmonary oncological multidisciplinary team to undergo surgical lobectomy for early-stage lung carcinoma. Intervention: One group is assigned to the open procedure: posterolateral thoracotomy for lobectomy with mediastinal lymph node dissection. The other group is assigned to the VATS procedure: thoracoscopic minimally invasive lobectomy with thoracoscopic mediastinal lymph node dissection. All patients that do meet the inclusion criteria but are not participating in the randomized trial can be included in the prospective Cohort arm of the study evaluating clinical assignment to OPEN- VATS or ROBOT-assisted lobectomy. Main study parameters/endpoints: Primary endpoints are postoperative quality of life, and hospital length of stay. Secondary endpoints include cancer specific quality of life, number of dissected mediastinal lymph nodes and stations, procedural complication rates, pulmonary function, overall costs and survival. Centres participating in this study currently perform the open- and VATS and/or ROBOT-assisted lobectomy in daily clinical practice.