Review of the learning curve of video-assisted thoracic surgery & robotic-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomies—similarities and differences

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and robotic-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) are two different types of surgical approach for the treatment of early stage lung cancer. Technological innovations brought on the beginning of a new era in thoracic surgery in the last 20-30 years. A need for training led many thoracic surgery centers to study how the learning of these new techniques took place among their surgeons: the so-called learning curve (LC). This review aimed not only to evaluate the recent literature about the LC of these two minimally invasive techniques but also to point out what are the similarities and differences between the two techniques. We chose a total of 50 reports from papers published between 2008 and 2019: 30 about the LC of VATS lobectomy and 20 studies about the LC of RATS lobectomy. We observed a substantial overlap between the training of both techniques even though the LC of RATS appears to be shorter than VATS. There are common cornerstones in the two LCs like reduction of operating times, reduction of blood loss, more complete lymphadenectomy, conversion rate reduction; a minimum number of at least 50 cases for VATS and 20 cases for RATS are needed to overcome the initial phase of the LC. We noticed that the need for accessory thoracoscopic access is particularly reduced with experience in the LC of the single-port VATS while the evaluation of the docking time is uniquely taken into account for RATS as for the need of specific training for basic robotic skills.