Robotic surgery for pulmonary segmentectomy

Although pulmonary segmentectomy for early stage of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been debated regarding its effect on local recurrence and survival, it has several advantages including preservation of pulmonary function and decreased perioperative risk (1). Among anatomical pulmonary segmentectomies, segmentectomy for medial and anterior basal segments of lower lobe is one of the most challenging operations. Hiebinger et al. have performed bisegmentectomy for these segments via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and Li et al. have performed it via robotic surgery (2,3).