The evolution of Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery: implications for the practice of uniportal thoracoscopic surgery

Without doubt, the single greatest advance in Thoracic Surgery of this generation has been the advent of video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) (1,2). Over the past 20 years since its birth, VATS has been demonstrated to significantly reduce pain, hasten recovery, minimize complications, and improve post-operative quality of life for patients requiring Thoracic Surgery when compared to open thoracotomy (3,4). VATS is now so well established around the world that it is no longer correct to describe it as an ‘emerging’ or ‘new’ approach. It is in fact now the ‘conventional’ approach for almost every common thoracic operation in a number of centers around the world