Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery versus robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and postoperative opioid consumption

Even though the concept of thoracoscopy was first described in 1910s, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was not used in the operating rooms until 1990’s (1). The use of VATS lobectomy procedures, compared to open approaches, increased from 10% in 2002 to 29% in 2007 (1,2). The reason for the popularization of VATS, as an alternative to thoracotomy, was the suggestion that VATS could reduce the surgery-related complications (1). A more recent and similarly less invasive alternative to VATS is robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS).