Although most patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can achieve long-term survival, some still remain at high risk of relapse (1-3). The excellent outcomes and increasing use of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) for stage I NSCLC has recently posed a challenge to surgery (4,5). Nevertheless, lobectomy with mediastinal lymph node dissection or sampling has remained the standard of care for operable, stage I NSCLC.