Wellstar Thoracic Surgery

Understanding Thoracic Surgery

Our team of thoracic surgeons focuses on minimally invasive techniques for complex chest surgeries, which means a quicker recovery and less time in the hospital.

Wellstar thoracic surgeons use the most advanced technology available to diagnose and treat patients. We provide comprehensive coordination of care by collaborating with referring physicians across a variety of specialties.

Traditional thoracic surgery, known as thoracotomy, is open surgery, where a large (six to eight in.) incision is made in the chest and the surgeon uses direct vision, rather than a small camera, to perform the surgery.

Most traditional thoracic surgeries can now be performed using the minimally invasive technique, and this is the first approach that will be considered if you need thoracic surgery. However, there are some procedures that are best performed using the traditional technique. Your Wellstar surgeon will carefully evaluate you to determine the safest surgical approach to treat your medical condition.

Procedures

• Pneumonectomy, which means removal of an entire lung. This surgery is most often done for lung cancer that cannot be treated by removal of a smaller portion of the lung. A pneumonectomy is an open chest technique.
• Lobectomy, the removal of one or more lobes of the lung, is most often an open chest surgery. However, the physicians at Wellstar are leading the way in the use of VATS for lobectomy.

Wellstar is a recognized leader in less invasive, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). VATS procedures include wedge resection to diagnose or remove a lung tumor, sleeve resection, which achieves the same for the air passage, and removal all or part of the esophagus.

Other procedures that can be performed using VATS include:

• Wedge resection to remove a small, wedge-shaped portion of the lung containing cancerous cells. The surgery is performed to remove a small tumor or to diagnose lung cancer.
• Sleeve resection is the surgical treatment of a cancer tumor of the bronchus (air passage). The cancerous portion of the bronchus is removed, and the ends of the remaining healthy segments are reconnected through sutures. This surgery keeps the surrounding healthy tissues and organs intact.
• Esophagectomy is surgery to remove part, or all, of the esophagus, the tube that moves food from your throat to your stomach. After removal, the esophagus is rebuilt from part of your stomach or large intestine. Most of the time, esophagectomy is done to treat cancer of the esophagus.