Quality of Life, Postoperative Pain, and Lymph Node Dissection in a Robotic Approach Compared to VATS and OPEN for Early Stage Lung Cancer.

We compare the perioperative course, postoperative pain, and quality-of-life (QOL) in patients undergoing anatomic resections of early-stage lung cancer by means of robotic surgery (RATS), video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS), or muscle-sparing thoracotomy (OPEN); 169 consecutive patients with known/suspected lung cancer, candidates to anatomic resection, were enrolled in a single-center prospective study from April 2016 to December 2018. EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13 scores were obtained preoperatively and, at three time points, postoperatively. RATS and VATS groups were matched for ASA scores, while RATS and open surgery were matched for gender, ASA score, cancer stage, and tumor size; 58 patients underwent open surgery, 58 had VATS, and 53 had RATS. Hospital stay was shorter after RATS than OPEN (median 4.5 versus 5;