Lobectomy for patients with marginal pulmonary function: an indication for robotics

We thank Drs. Casiraghi and Spaggiari (1) for their insightful editorial remarks in the March 2019 issue of this Journal concerning our original report on the outcomes of robotic lobectomy in patients with marginal pulmonary function as compared to the traditional open thoracotomy approach (2). The authors provide an excellent summary on our work in the context of the literature. We agree with their conclusion that robotic-assisted thoracoscopic anatomic lung resections should not be avoided, but embraced for patients with compromised pulmonary function.