Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) - Mayo Clinic Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is a minimally invasive surgical technique used to diagnose and treat problems in the chest During a VATS procedure, a tiny camera and surgical tools are inserted into the chest through one or more small cuts in the chest wall
Video-Assisted Thorascopic Surgery | Johns Hopkins Medicine What is VATS? Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is a type of surgery for diagnosing and treating many conditions affecting the chest area (thorax) It is done using a thin tube with a tiny video camera at the end (thoracoscope) It's a type of minimally invasive surgery