We have two surgeons devoted to the surgical treatment of lung and thoracic conditions. They focus on treating patients with minimally invasive techniques, including video-assisted thoracic surgery.
- Esophageal Conditions: Our thoracic surgeons can help with heartburn that doesn’t respond to medications, hiatal hernias, difficulty swallowing, and cancer of the esophagus.
- Esophagus Cancer
- Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy: If a portion of the esophagus needs to be removed, our surgeons can perform minimally invasive esophagectomy, which is an alternative to traditional open-chest surgery.
- Lung Cancer: Our thoracic surgeons perform biopsies to help diagnose lung cancer. They also perform surgical removal of lung cancer, which is an important part of treatment.
- Biopsy: Suspicious nodules in the lungs can be biopsied without an incision by using computer-guided technology (navigational bronchoscopy). This works almost exactly like the GPS in your car, guiding the surgeon to the location of the lesion in the lung. During the procedure, the surgeon can leave markers behind to help direct future treatment.
- Lung Resection: If surgery is needed to remove part of the lung, surgeons can often use a technique called VATS (video assisted thoracic surgery). Generally, this technique requires incisions that are much smaller that those used in traditional open-chest surgery. Patients usually experience less pain and a faster recovery.
- Enlarged Lymph Nodes: Our thoracic surgeons biopsy enlarged lymph nodes to make sure that they are not cancer or to help confirm a diagnosis of infection or inflammation. We can use a technique called Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS), which does not require incisions.
- Chest Infections: Bad infections in the chest such as pneumonia can result in fluid building up around the lung, much like an abscess. Thoracic surgeons can use very small incisions to drain this fluid.
- Thymoma
- Mesothelioma