Single-center randomized trial of robotic-assisted versus video-assisted lobectomy for resectable non-small cell lung cancer

Robotic-assisted lobectomy (RAL) and video-assisted lobectomy (VAL) for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have until now not been compared in a randomized study. The RVlob trial, at Ruijin Hospital (Shanghai, China) randomized patients with resectable NSCLC 1:1 to either RAL or VAL. The median follow-up was 58.0 months. The study found that 3-year overall survival and 3-year disease-free survival were not significantly different between both groups: OS 94.6% with RAL versus 91.5% with VAL (HR 0.65; p=0.21) and DFS 88.7% with RAL versus 85.4% with VAL (HR 0.87; p=0.62). The authors conclude that this study is the first randomized trial to show that RAL resulted in non-inferior survival outcomes compared with VAL in patients with resectable NSCLC.