Minimally invasive procedures
Our team specializes in two minimally invasive approaches: robot-assisted lung surgery and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. These procedures offer faster recoveries, shorter hospital stays, and small incisions with minimal scarring.
- Robot-assisted lung surgery: Robotic surgery allows our surgeons to operate with extreme precision, which is key when working near delicate lung tissue. Because of our expertise in this approach, doctors travel from all over the country to learn advanced robotic surgery techniques from our team. A high-definition 3-D camera shows the surgeon the chest and lungs during the procedure, and the surgeon guides and controls the robot’s arms every step of the way.
- Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS): In VATS, the surgeon makes small incisions and uses tiny instruments guided by a small camera at the end of a tube to remove cancer and spare healthy lung tissue.
Types of lung cancer surgery
The type of lung surgery your doctor recommends will depend on the size, type, and location of your tumor; your overall health; and how well your lungs work. Types of lung surgery include:
- Lobectomy to remove one or more of the five lobes of the lungs. It is among the most common lung cancer surgeries because it removes the entire area where the tumor is located.
- Pneumonectomy to remove an entire lung. We reserve this approach for large and advanced lung cancers.
- Wedge resection to remove cancerous cells and wedge-shaped section of surrounding tissue. This procedure is an alternative for patients in whom a lobectomy would decrease lung function.
- Segmentectomy, an approach similar to wedge resection, but with less tissue removed.
Many patients need chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy before or after surgery to destroy any cancer that remains after surgery
