Thoracotomy versus VATS: short term outcomes from a large randomized controlled trial

In the February 2018 issue of Annals of Thoracic Surgery, the results of the “Thoracoscopic Surgery Versus Thoracotomy For Lung Cancer: Short Term Outcomes Of A Randomized Trial” by Hao Long et al. were published (1). The aim of this non-inferiority, phase 3, multicenter randomized controlled trial both for short-term and oncologic outcome, was “to confirm that VATS lobectomy is non-inferior to open surgery for the treatment of early-stage NSCLC”. The results of this study merit the attention of thoracic surgeons for several reasons.