The surgeons at Twin Cities Heart and Lung believe in patient education. We've designed our site to help you learn about procedures so you can understand them and proceed with your treatment with the knowledge to put your fears to rest.
Thoracotomy: during this procedure, a surgeon makes an incision in a patient's chest in order to directly access the mass and directly remove part or all of the suspicious area of the patient's lung. In some patients with a peripheral lung mass and no evidence of mediastinal (the space between the lungs) or systemic cancer, a wedge resection of the lesion is sometimes performed, and diagnosis made on a frozen section of tissue. If lung cancer is confirmed, the surgeon will then perform a formal cancer resection.
A Thoracotomy is a surgical procedure to open the chest and is performed under general anesthesia.
During a thoracotomy the surgeon may remove part or all of a lung. A lobectomy is the removal of one lobe of the lung and is the most frequent operation performed for early stage NSCLC. A pneumonectomy is the removal of the entire lung. Pneumonectomy is associated with more than twice the mortality rate of lobectomy, as well as more long-term pulmonary side effects.
