Totally Robotic Versus Surgeon-Assisted Robotic Lung Resection For Early-Stage NSCLC

Totally Robotic Versus Surgeon-Assisted Robotic Lung Resection For Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RTS) is safe and effective for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). During RTS, division, dissection, and sealing of lung tissue, bronchi, and blood vessels can be performed using handheld staplers with assistance from a bedside surgeon (Surgeon-Assisted), or totally robotically with robotic staplers and energy devices by the console surgeon (Totally Robotic). Totally Robotic lung resection enables the operating surgeon to perform the case independently, but its implication on costs and patient outcomes remains unknown. There also is, however, a lack of prospective research evaluating the costs of the two methods for dissection and vessel sealing in RTS. This RCT aims to evaluate the costs and perioperative patient outcomes of Totally Robotic lung resection using the Vessel Sealer Extend energy device (for vessels <7mm) and the SureForm robotic stapler (Intervention) versus Surgeon-Assisted robotic lung resection using the Signia stapler (Control) during RTS for NSCLC using the da Vinci system.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age between 18 and 120 years at time of consent
• Ability to speak and understand English
• Clinical stage I, II or IIIa NSCLC
• Candidate for RTS, as determined by the operating surgeon

Exclusion Criteria:

• Anticoagulation with inability to cease anticoagulant therapy prior to surgery
• Incurable coagulopathy
• Systemic vascular disease or vasculitis
• Not a candidate for RTS