Lung Cancer Treatments – Surgery
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Surgery for Lung Cancer
Early-stage lung cancer is often treated with the surgical removal of part or all of the affected lung. However, many lung cancers are not detected until a tumor has spread within the chest. As a result, for many lung cancer patients at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), surgery may be used in combination with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and Interventional Pulmonology treatments, or it may not be used at all.
Your lung cancer team customizes treatment based on your needs, including the type and stage of lung cancer and your overall health.
We also support you after surgery with supportive therapies. For example, nutrition therapy helps to stabilize your sugar levels and physical therapy helps to mitigate scar tissue and reduce pain.
Surgical Procedures
Lung surgery, or thoracotomy, is a procedure where the surgeon opens up the chest cavity to gain access to the lungs. An incision is made in the side of the chest and the ribs are spread apart, so your surgeon can remove cancerous tissue from the lungs. There are four types of surgery for the treatment of lung cancer at CTCA:
Wedge Resection and Segmentectomy
Removal of cancerous tissue from the lung. In cases where more tissue is removed, the procedure is called a segmentectomy.Lobectomy
Removal of an entire lobe from the lung. The right lung has three lobes and the left lung has two.Pneumonectomy
Removal of an entire lung.Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS)
VATS is a minimally invasive technology that our cancer doctors use to perform a lobectomy or wedge resection without opening up the chest. This procedure involves inserting a long, thin tube with an attached camera (thorascope) and small surgical instruments into the chest. Using images from the camera, the surgeon remove cancerous tissues. If you are a candidate for VATS, it offers a quicker recovery time and less pain because no large incision or movement of the ribs is needed.
VATS may also be used to biopsy lung tissues and confirm a lung cancer diagnosis, called a thoracoscopy.
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