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Surgery is the standard therapy for early stage lung cancers and
it should be determined if you're a candidate for
a surgery based upon your risk profile and making sure that
you're medically fit to withstand the risk of surgery.
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Traditionally, surgery for lung cancer has been offered through
an incision called a thoracotomy.
That's an incision on the side of the chest that involves
dividing the muscle and spreading the ribs.
More recently, minimally invasive techniques have been
devised for lung cancer surgery.
In these types of procedures the muscles no longer need to
be divided and the ribs are not spread.
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Minimally invasive options for surgical treatment of lung
cancer involve using minimally invasive incisions which
basically are incisions that are less than three and
a half inches, but most of them are an inch or even smaller.
This allows the surgeon to remove the lung cancer and
traditionally that involves a lobectomy, but
depending on the type of the cancer,
the characteristics of the cancer, as well as the patient
characteristics, smaller resections may be advised.
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Minimally invasive surgery for
lung cancer is indicated when there is a high likelihood that
a proper oncologic resection can be achieved in a safe manner.
This determination should be made by a general thoracic
surgeon who is experienced in lung cancer surgical techniques
and can provide an adequate risk assessment for that surgery.
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In general a good candidate for minimally invasive lung cancer
operations is a candidate that would actually be good for
open or traditional lung cancer operations as well.
A proper determination of the candidacy for minimally invasive
surgery is done by the general thoracic surgeon who
will evaluate the risks associated with that patient and
as well as the tumor characteristics and
determine if a safe resection is possible.
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The benefits of minimally invasive lung cancer surgery
are multiple.
In fact, for our patients, they realize quickly that there's
a great cosmetic result with the minimally invasive surgery.
However, multiple studies have actually demonstrated
that minimally invasive surgery actually leads to decreased
post-operative pain, decreased length of stay in the hospital,
a faster recovery and return to work, and
again, the cosmesis is also a great advantage.
In fact, within our division, we've actually been pioneering
uni-portal surgery which is single incision lung cancer
surgery which results in a greater cosmetic appearance and
an easier recovery.
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It's important for patients with lung cancer to be treated by
a multidisciplinary team at a comprehensive cancer center
such as Johns Hopkins because that affords them multiple
options for multiple stages of cancer.
In general, once patients are diagnosed with lung cancer, it's
expected that only 15% of them would be alive in five years.
However, with the introduction of new therapies and
novel techniques, which may only be available within these
specialized centers such as in a comprehensive cancer center,
patients have a new hope for
prolonged survival after their diagnosis.
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