Table 2. Exclusion criteria are mainly based on anatomic features of the patient or pathological conditions that preclude the surgery under spontaneous breathing.

Exclusion criteria

Unfavourable anatomy

BMI >30

Narrow thorax

Expected difficult airway

Prominent superior incisors

Impossibility of occluding the superior lip with the inferior incisors

Mouth opening less than 3 cm

Mallampati >2

Arquate or tight palate

Rigid, indurated or non-elastic maxillar space

Thyroid-to-chin distance less than 6 cm

Short or wide neck

Abnormal cervical flexo-extension

Previous surgery in cervical/thoracic spine

Previous ipsilateral thoracotomy (not previous VATS)

Uncontrolled gastroesophageal regurgitation

Haemodynamically unstable patient

Pleural adhesions in more than 50% of pleural surface

Coagulation disorders

Clinical stage cT4 lung cancer

Induction radiotherapy

BMI, body mass index.