Video-assisted thoracic surgery in lung cancer: Lung resection and mediastinal lymph node staging

Despite our ever-increasing ability to target the molecular and genetic pathways responsible for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), anatomic surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment for those without evidence of systemic disease. Although these procedures can be performed with relatively low mortality, the age and coexisting conditions of the population lends itself to a myriad of potential complications. Minimally invasive surgical approaches to the treatment of lung cancer hold the potential to offer curative resection to a much broader group of patients without compromising oncologic principles.