Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery: Video-Assisted Lobectomy
- How can I be evaluated?
Learn about video assisted-lobectomy and video-assisted thoracic surgery.
How can I be evaluated for VATS lobectomy?
Please call the Cleveland Clinic Thoracic Surgery appointment line at 216.445.6860 or 800.223.2273 ext. 56860 to schedule a pre-surgical evaluation with a thoracic surgeon.
When you meet with the thoracic surgeon for the pre-surgical evaluation, a physical exam will be performed. The surgeon will ask you questions about your condition and health history. The thoracic surgeon will discuss your treatment options and the benefits and potential risks of the procedure that is recommended for you. Additional tests will be ordered to make sure video-assisted lobectomy is the right treatment for you.
What tests are needed before video-assisted lobectomy?
If lung cancer has been found, more tests will be done to find out if cancer cells have spread from one or both lungs to other parts of the body (staging). Your doctor needs to know the stage of the disease to plan your treatment.
Pre-surgical tests usually last about one day and are scheduled a few weeks before your surgery date. The thoracic surgery scheduler will schedule the tests and consultations that have been requested by your surgeon. In general, after your first meeting with your surgeon, all tests are scheduled on a single returning visit for your convenience.
Pre-surgical tests include:
- A complete physical exam
- Chest x-ray
- Computed tomography (CT) scan
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
- Blood tests
- Electrocardiogram or cardiac stress test
- Breathing tests, such as a spirometry or a pulmonary function test
Your surgeon will determine if any other preoperative tests are needed.
As part of your preoperative evaluation, you will meet with an anesthesiologist who will discuss anesthesia and post-operative pain control.
What are the benefits of video-assisted lobectomy?
Patients who have video-assisted lobectomy generally experience less pain and have a quicker recovery than those who have traditional thoracotomy surgery. Other possible benefits include reduced risk of infection and less bleeding.
Recent research indicated that video-assisted lobectomy can be performed with low rates of complications and reduced in-hospital recovery to approximately 3 to 4 days. Additional studies also demonstrate video-assisted lobectomy is as effective in removing stage I lung cancers as the traditional, open-chest thoracotomy.
What are the risks of video-assisted lobectomy?
There are risks of every surgical procedure. Your doctor will discuss the potential risks of the procedure with you. Possible risks of the procedure may include:
- Risk of bleeding, requiring opening of the chest (thoracotomy)
- A persistent air leak (greater than 7 days) from the lung
- Subcutaneous emphysema (the presence of air or gas in subcutaneous tissues)
- Fever
Pulmonary Resection Mortality |
| Hospital mortality for all pulmonary resections, including video-assisted lobectomies, declined to 0.9 percent in 2005 at Cleveland Clinic, despite the increase in patient median age. |
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How long will it take to recover from VATS?
References:
McKenna RJ, Houck W, Beeman Fuller C. Video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy: experience with 1,100 cases. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, February 2006. 81(2):421-426.
Roviaro G, et al. Long-term survival after videothoracoscopic lobectomy for stage I lung cancer. Chest. September 2004. 126(3):725-732.
Lung/Thoracic Surgery, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons http://www.sts.org/sections/patientinformation/lungthoracicsurgery/ (web site accessed 8/11/06)
VATS Lobectomy For Early Stage Lung Cancer, Flores RM, The Cardiothoracic Surgery Network. http://www.ctsnet.org/sections/clinicalresources/thoracic/expert_tech-.html (web site accessed 8/12/06)
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