10 Years of Implementing Robotic Surgery

Over the last three decades, thoracic surgery has greatly advanced through the adoption of minimally invasive techniques. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery has led the way. However, it remains technically demanding with significant limitations, including a confined workspace and rigid instruments that make pulmonary hilum dissection challenging. In response to these challenges, robotic surgery is becoming increasingly prominent, offering enhanced visual quality, greater precision, and improved ergonomics for the surgeon. Despite its higher cost, this technology is spreading at a national scale. In the treatment of lung cancer, robotic surgery offers special advantages in managing advanced cases, in obese patients, and for meticulous lymph node dissection, thereby cementing its role in complex thoracic interventions.