VATS for Lung Cancer: 21 Real Stories

Stage I Lung Adenocarcinoma: Julie's Survivor Story

Patient Info: Julie Jones, Female, 50s | Stage I

Julie resumed walking the day after VATS and completed a half marathon 53 days after surgery, finishing about 10 minutes slower than before surgery.

Stage II KRAS Lung Adenocarcinoma: Roy's Survivor Story

Patient Info: Roy, Male, 50s | Stage II

Biomarkers: KRAS

As of May 2026, Roy described being cancer-free/in remission, back to flying professionally, and strong enough to complete his 5th marathon at the Boston Marathon.

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Suspicious right lower-lobe lung nodule reclassified as benign lipoid pneumonia after VATS wedge resection

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s

Biomarkers: No cancer biomarkers. Pathology showed benign lipoid pneumonia changes, not confirmed cancer.

Final pathology after VATS wedge resection showed benign lipoid pneumonia rather than lung cancer; long-term follow-up was not available.

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Stage IVA EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma: stable disease on first-line osimertinib

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 70+ | Stage IV

Biomarkers: EGFR exon 19 deletion; baseline EGFR exon 20 T790M mutation; ALK IHC negative; PD-L1 TPS 30%; TTF-1-positive

Metastatic Site: pleura; malignant pleural-pericardial adhesions

As of April 2026, she had stable disease for more than 9 months on first-line osimertinib, with no progressive disease, no recurrent pleural effusion, ECOG improvement from 2 to 0, and no treatment-related adverse events.

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Stage IA2 squamous lung cancer: lung-sparing segmentectomy after COPD optimization

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 70+

Biomarkers: Squamous lung cancer markers present; PD-L1 TPS 10%, EGFR IHC present

At 18 months after lung-sparing VATS segmentectomy, he had good quality of life, no dyspnea or chronic cough, and surveillance imaging showed no recurrence.

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Early lung adenocarcinoma found on screening with surgical recovery after tamponade complication

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage I

The Stage I lung adenocarcinoma was removed by wedge resection with clear margins. A life-threatening postoperative cardiac tamponade was successfully treated, and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 19 with full recovery.

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Stage IA2 lung adenocarcinoma followed by benign necrotizing sarcoid granulomatosis mimicking recurrence

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s

Postoperative enlarging nodules suspicious for recurrence were resected and diagnosed as necrotizing sarcoid granulomatosis, so observation continued without glucocorticoid therapy.

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Stage IA1 lung adenocarcinoma: disease-free after VATS right lower lobectomy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 70+

Biomarkers: No molecular biomarkers reported; final pathology pT1aN0M0 with no lymph node metastases

Final pathology showed pT1aN0M0 Stage IA1 lung adenocarcinoma with no lymph node metastases, and he remained disease-free at 1-year follow-up.

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Stage IIIB RET-fusion lung adenocarcinoma: disease-free after pralsetinib, surgery and maintenance therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, Under 40 | Stage III

Biomarkers: RET exon 12 fusion. Lung-origin markers were present

After neoadjuvant pralsetinib, surgery showed pathological complete response with negative lymph nodes. As of 16 April 2025, surveillance imaging showed no recurrence while he remained on pralsetinib 300 mg once daily.

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Stage IIIA lung adenocarcinoma complicated by severe atezolizumab-induced liver toxicity

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage III

Biomarkers: PD-L1 49%; case text describes triple-negative status without expanding the specific markers

The patient was discharged clinically stable but with guarded prognosis after atezolizumab-induced vanishing bile duct syndrome, requiring prednisone, mycophenolate mofetil, ursodeoxycholic acid, prophylaxis, and close oncology/internal medicine follow-up.

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Lung adenocarcinoma surgery complicated by postoperative chest wall hernia

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 70+

He completed VATS left lower lobectomy for lung adenocarcinoma and later mesh repair of a postoperative chest wall hernia; at 6 months after hernia repair, the hernia had not recurred.

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Stage IVA lung adenosquamous carcinoma: complete response after paclitaxel, nedaplatin, and tislelizumab

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: Adenosquamous lung cancer markers; PD-L1 TPS 18%; KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, FLT1 mutation; TMB 3.7

Metastatic Site: pleura/chest wall, cervical lymph nodes, axillary…

As of March 30, 2025, he maintained complete response with normal tumor markers, no radiologic evidence of progression or recurrence, and progression-free survival of 46.5 months after paclitaxel/nedaplatin/tislelizumab followed by maintenance tislelizumab.

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Synchronous Stage I lung adenocarcinomas: VATS surgery with clear margins

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 70+

He completed surgical treatment with negative lymph nodes and clear margins, was discharged on postoperative day 9, and was planned for surveillance with his respiratory physician.

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Lung adenocarcinoma mimicking interstitial lung disease: Stage IIB diagnosis after VATS biopsy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 50s | Stage II

Biomarkers: CK7-positive; CK20-positive; TTF-1-positive; CDX2-negative; no EGFR/ALK/ROS1/KRAS molecular results provided

As of January 2025, he had recovered from diagnostic VATS wedge resection/biopsies for reported Stage IIB lung adenocarcinoma and was referred for definitive oncology and pulmonology management.

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Stage 1 lung adenocarcinoma: no recurrence after 2 years

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage I

No recurrence or surgical complications 2 years after uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic left middle lobectomy and left upper-lobe wedge resection for Stage IB lung adenocarcinoma in situs inversus totalis.

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MET-mutated lung cancer: testing savolitinib before surgery — Case 1

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 70+

Biomarkers: MET exon 14 skipping mutation

The tumour shrank by 82%; surgery found 5% viable residual tumour and no involved lymph nodes, with postoperative stage ypT2aN0M0. He continued savolitinib without serious adverse effects.

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MET-mutated lung cancer: testing savolitinib before surgery — Case 2

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s

Biomarkers: MET exon 14 skipping mutation; PD-L1 expression 75%

Savolitinib produced approximately 72% tumour shrinkage. Surgery found 30% viable residual tumour, negative lymph nodes and ypT1bN0M0 disease; she recovered without complications and continued savolitinib.

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Rare lung sarcoma causing repeated collapsed lungs

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female | Stage I

Biomarkers: SS18-SSX2 fusion; CD99-positive; epithelial membrane antigen-positive; TLE1-positive; BCL-2-positive

She remained well under surveillance, with no evidence of disease on imaging at 3 years after definitive lobectomy.

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Stage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Shyreece's Patient Story

Patient Info: Shyreece Pompey, Female | Stage IV

Biomarkers: ALK-positive mutation identified by FISH testing

As of March 2022, Shyreece was living and advocating nearly 8 years after being diagnosed with Stage IV ALK-positive lung cancer; this segment does not report treatment response or a remission/NED status.

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Metastatic Large Cell Neuroendocrine Lung Cancer With No Residual Tumor After Immunotherapy and Surgery

Patient Info: Anonymized, male, 50s

Surgical pathology showed fibrosis with no residual cancer, and he remained alive, disease free and off treatment at postoperative follow-up.

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Stage IA bronchioloalveolar carcinoma: complete resection with thoracoscopic segmentectomy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s | Stage I

Biomarkers: No molecular biomarkers reported; serum cancer antigens were within normal range

As of September 2011, Stage IA bronchioloalveolar carcinoma was completely resected by thoracoscopic segmentectomy with node dissection, a 15 mm tumor-free margin, and uncomplicated discharge on postoperative day 5.

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