At Twin Cities Heart and Lung, our goal with lung procedures, as with heart and vascular, is firstly to preserve the lives of patients, using the utmost skill and most advanced techniques possible. Secondly, we aim to restore patients to the best health we can, so they can live more fulfilling, pain-free lives than they could before surgery.

Lung surgery procedures will vary depending on the underlying cause of the surgical test or intervention; the most common causes leading to lung surgery are lung cancer and emphysema (due to smoking). Most of the major procedures follow this general pattern: first, the patient receives general anesthesia so he or she will not feel anything during the procedure. With some lung cancer or emphysema cases, the surgeon will make an incision to examine the lungs directly. Diseased tissue may be removed, and possibly sent for biopsy. Following the surgery, drainage tubes are often placed in the chest to drain fluids, blood, and air from the chest cavity. Finally, the chest cavity, ribs, and skin are closed and the incision sutured. Hospital stays average from three to ten days.