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Cancer Care: Areas of Expertise
Holy Cross Hospital Cancer Institute
Lung Care Center

Surgical Procedures in the Treatment of Lung Cancer
Holy Cross Hospital’s Lung Care Center surgeons offer alternate procedures for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

Thoracotomy
Thoracotomy is an “open” surgical procedure where all or part of the lung is removed. During a thoracotomy, the surgeon makes an incision between two ribs. Through an opening in the chest wall, the surgeon can access the lungs to remove the affected tissue and/or tumor.

Thoracoscopy
Thoracoscopy is a minimally invasive surgery requiring only a small incision in the chest wall for the insertion of the endoscope. In some cases, a thoracoscopy replaces the need for a thoracotomy and reduces pain, length of hospital stay, and recovery time. With a thoracoscopy the surgeon can assess lung cancer, take a biopsy of the lung, introduce medications or treatments directly into the lung, or treat fluid that has accumulated around the lungs.

Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS)
Surgeons at the Holy Cross Hospital Lung Care Center specialize in minimally invasive surgical management of lung cancer, including video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). The minimally-invasive equipped operating room at Holy Cross Hospital give our thoracic surgeons access to state-of-the-art technology to diagnose and treat early stage lung cancer more easily than other procedures. As with most other minimally invasive procedures, VATS uses small cameras and instruments to see and operate inside the body without making large incisions.

VATS enables surgeons to remove tumors close to the outer edges of the lung and test them for cancer. The technique uses openings that are less than one inch in diameter. With the VATS procedure, many patients experience less pain, less scarring, and shorter hospital stays with decreased mortality. In many cases, patients return to normal activities sooner. VATS has dramatically changed the approach to the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

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