Lymph node upstaging for non-small cell lung cancer after uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopy

In the last 20 years, minimally invasive surgical techniques have been increasingly used for lung resections for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and have shown superior post-operative outcomes when compared to thoracotomy: shorter hospitalization, less post-operative pain, preserved pulmonary function and faster access to possible adjuvant therapies (1). To validate these techniques, several studies have focused on the radicality of lymph node dissection (LND) and on the prevalence of nodal upstaging to evaluate the relative efficacy and oncologic equivalence of open versus minimally invasive surgery