Comparison of robotic-assisted lobectomy with video-assisted thoracic surgery for stage IIB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer.

Abstract

With the rapid development of surgical technics and instruments, more and more locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients are being treated by minimally invasive surgery (MIS), including video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and robotic-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS). The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the perioperative and long-term outcomes of patients who underwent lobectomy by these two surgical approaches. We performed a retrospective review of the prospectively collected database of our hospital to identify patients with clinical stage IIB-IIIA NSCLC who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic or robotic lobectomy. Perioperative outcomes, recurrence, and overall survival (OS) were compared. From January 2014 to January 2017, there were at total of 121 patients, including 36 robotic lobectomy patients and 85 VATS lobectomy patients. One patient (2.8%) in the RATS group and 5 patients (5.9%) in the VATS group were converted to thoracotomy (P=0.79). No perioperative death was observed in both groups. The postoperative morbidity was similar between the two groups (13.9% for RATS vs. 15.3% for VATS; P=0.84). Robotic lobectomy was associated with a shorter length of postoperative hospital stay (4 vs. 5 d, P<0.01) and more counts of lymph nodes harvested (13 vs. 10, P<0.01). The median disease-free survival (DFS) for the RATS and VATS groups were 31.1 and 33.8 months, respectively. The corresponding 3-year DFS was 40.3% in the RATS group and 47.6% in the VATS group (P=0.74). The 3-year OS was 75.7% in RATS and 77.0% in the VATS group (P=0.75). For selected NSCLC patients with lymph node involvement, robotic lobectomy is safe and effective with a low complication rate and similar long-term outcome compared with VATS lobectomy. Moreover, the robotic approach resulted in shorter postoperative length of stay and greater lymph node assessment.