Approaches in Robot-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (RATS)

Robotic surgical platforms are changing the face of minimally invasive access surgery across the specialties. This chapter describes the evolution of robotic surgery, with a focus on Robot Assisted Thoracic Surgery (RATS). Theatre setup, instrument range/selection, patient positioning and port placement options for the most commonly performed robotic thoracic procedures are described. This chapter outlines advantages for the thoracic surgeon of the most recently developed robotic platforms, and briefly touches on the future of RATS.