Robotic versus thoracoscopic combined anatomic subsegmentectomy for early-stage lung cancer: early results of a cohort study

Background Combined anatomic subsegmentectomy performed by video-assisted thoracic surgery or robot-assisted thoracic surgery is an emerging minimally invasive surgical technique for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the early results of these two methods have barely been studied. Methods A retrospective analysis of medical records from Shanghai Ruijin Hospital between July 2017 and August 2021 included 62 patients, 32 of whom underwent video-assisted combined anatomic pulmonary subsegmentectomy and 30 underwent robot-assisted combined anatomic pulmonary subsegmentectomy. Perioperative outcomes were compared. Results Sixty-two patients with comparable baseline characteristics were included in this study. No significant difference was found in the length of postoperative hospital stay, operation duration, intraoperative blood loss and the rate of overall complications between the robot-assisted and video-assisted groups. A higher cost was observed in the robot-assisted group compared to the video-assisted group. There were more N1 lymph nodes and N1 stations dissected in the robot-assisted group compared with the video-assisted group; the same results were observed with regard to the number of N2 lymph nodes and N2 stations dissected. Conclusions It is safe and feasible for the patients with early-stage NSCLC to be treated with combined anatomic subsegmentectomy performed via robot-assisted or video-assisted thoracic surgery. The robotic approach may contribute to the potential improvements in N1 and N2 lymph node retrieval.