Surgical simulation in robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery: future strategy

Robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) is used worldwide and has become an established approach for primary lung cancer and other chest diseases. Complicated and unique surgical skills needed for RATS, which are different from those for open thoracotomy and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, make it necessary for thoracic surgeons to undergo surgical training and obtain such skills using via surgical simulators. In this brief review, we outline and discuss current surgical simulations for RATS and provide an outlook of the future, when technical innovations will yield further developments for thoracic surgery.