{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T05:07:34Z","timestamp":1784092054575,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784073600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Oncol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The debate regarding the oncological superiority of Robotic-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (RATS) versus Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) for early-stage lung cancer is ongoing. Current evidence suggests comparable oncological outcomes between the two approaches. This perspective posits that long-term survival relies less on the platform itself and more on the \u201csurgeon factor\u201d\u2014specifically, the tenacity for radical lymph node dissection. While RATS imposes higher costs, its technical advantages may lower the barrier to achieving standardized, high-quality dissection, effectively \u201cdemocratizing\u201d surgical precision. Consequently, the choice of approach should not be binary but tailored to anatomical complexity and surgeon proficiency. Rather than forcing a transition, future paradigms must focus on leveraging technology to minimize performance variability while maintaining cost-effectiveness in a value-based healthcare system.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2026.1896248","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T04:40:18Z","timestamp":1784090418000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Beyond the platform: why surgical quality and surgeon proficiency outweigh the RATS vs. VATS debate in early-stage lung cancer"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Marcello","family":"Migliore","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Thoracic Surgery and Transplantation, The Lung Health Centre, Organ Centre of Excellence (OCoE), King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre","place":["Riyad, Saudi Arabia"]},{"name":"Medical College, Al Faisal University","place":["Riyadh, Saudi 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