Pulmonary Artery Energy Sealing for VATS Procedure

Video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) anatomical lung resections (lobectomy or pneumonectomy) provide an effective minimally invasive treatment for stage 1 lung cancer. Currently, a minority of anatomical pulmonary resections are being performed by VATS (15%) (6). The technical difficulty and danger of VATS lobectomy is related to pulmonary arterial branch manipulation and this is the main limitation of many thoracic surgeons regarding the adoption of VATS lobectomy. We believe that if we can decrease the manipulation required by the surgeon on the pulmonary arterial branch, we can make these procedures safe and therefore more prevalent for anatomical pulmonary resections.