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Opinions Please VATS or RATS?

GeorgeRO
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A CT scan in April to determine the scale of my AAA (which is 6.5+cm) identified a "nodule" in my lung.

A subsequent CT scan and following PET scan in July resulted in a diagnosis of a RUL lung cancer staged as T3(SN)N0M0 with a Herder score 63.9% probability.

Not great news as the vascular surgeon wants this resolved before operating on my AAA!

Anyway, I'm being offered either a VATS or RATS procedure and wondered if there is a general preference - risks vs benefits - for one over the other?

Thanks for any insights you can offer.

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    Hello GeorgeRO, 

    A warm welcome to our forum though I am sorry you have been through so much recently and are having to deal with both the abdominal aortic aneurysm and the lung cancer diagnosis. It's a difficult decision to have to make whether to opt for a VATS or a RATS procedure. In our information on the types of surgery for lung cancer, there is a mention of keyhole surgery video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and robotic assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) which uses a computer system to help the surgeon to guide the surgical tools.

    I wouldn't know myself what the risks or benefits of each procedure might be but you could perhaps give our cancer nurses a call on this free number 0808 800 4040 - their helpline is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and they will be happy to tell you more about each procedure to help you understand what is involved in each case and what the risks or benefits might be. 

    I've also had a little look on the forum to try and find other recent threads from members who have either had a VATS or a RATS and I have found this VATS thread by   . I also noticed  's Possible Lung Cancer thread who mentioned in a comment to their thread having RATS for lung cancer. These are just a couple of examples and I hope that you will hear from others on here who have had either VATS or RATS and that they will be along shortly to share their personal journeys and treatment experiences with you. 

    Best of luck with making this difficult decision and I think you are right to try and get as many insights and information as possible so that you can make an informed decision. Talking to your medical team about the pros and cons is also a good idea as they will be well aware of your medical circumstances especially with the added complication of the AAA and they will be in the best position to guide you so I hope that they will be helpful in explaining your various options. 

    Best wishes, 

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Offline in reply to Moderator Lucie

    Thank you for responding.

    My main concerns were the recovery time and, more importantly, the level of blood loss as I have elected for bloodless surgery.

    I don’t want any human blood products from the now contaminated blood supply following the mass injection of Covid19 MGETs (Man-made Genetically Engineered Therapies) - they are NOT vaccines. Before anyone dismisses my concern, they should recall the infected blood scandal during the 1970s and 1980s - I do. Over 30,000 individuals were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products. This scandal is considered one of the largest treatment disasters in NHS history... and these MGETs have already shown to superseded that!

    Anyway, after much research I understand that while both VATS and RATS are minimally invasive, RATS is likely to result in less blood loss.
    I queried several AI models “What is the blood loss of a lung VATS procedure compared to RATS?” which in summary results in the following analysis….

    “In a comparison of robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) and video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for lung cancer studies show a statistically significant reduction (MD = -17.14, P = 0.009) in the RATS group than in the VATS group."

    One of the studies on the topic https://wjso.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12957-024-03542-y 

    Fortunately I live in an area where RATS is offered so, after a further consultation on Tuesday, my RATS procedure is schedule for next Tuesday.

    The only down side is that the da Vinci robot being used is not the latest model lacking the "feedback" feature of the newer models.

    If all goes well I’ll be home by the end of the week – fingers crossed.

    Slàinte Mhath!

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