Robot-assisted vs VATS Lobectomy for NSCLC

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy is recommended for non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with surgical indications in China, its oncological long-term outcomes has been widely approved. As a new form of VATS, robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) was widely used in thoracic surgery, the 3D vision and flexible robot arm were helpful for surgeons to perform precise operations, and RATS was reported to bring extra benefits to patients. The surgical safety and feasibility of RATS lobectomy for NSCLC has been confirmed. However, the oncological long-term outcomes of RATS lobectomy has not been studied by randomized controlled trial. so we designed this randomized controlled trial to determine whether RATS lobectomy would be as effective as VATS lobectomy on short-term and long-term outcomes.