Lung resection is a surgical procedure that removes all or part of the lung for lung cancer or other diseases. For someone struggling with lung cancer, lung resection is the only way to fully recover. Therefore, surgery to remove a lung can be a good option if other cancer treatments have failed.
Lung resection. What is lung excision surgery?
Lung resectionis a surgical procedure performed to remove areas of the lung that have been colonized bycancerous tumorsor other diseases. Currently, a wedge resection, lobectomy or pulmonectomy are performed.Wedge resectioninvolves the excision of a wedge-shaped fragment of the diseased lung. As a result, some he althy tissue is left behind. In a lobectomy, onepulmonary lobeis removed along with the surrounding he althy tissue. In turn,pulmonectomyis a procedure involving the removal of the entire lung and the lymph nodes.
Lung resection. When is lung surgery performed?
Lung resection is most often performed to remove advanced lung cancer.Lung resectioncan be performed to treat birth defects and other lung problems such as emphysema. Resection is also performed in order to prepare the patient for a he althy lung transplant.
Before having a lung resection procedure, the doctor should explain to the patient the risks involvedlung resection . During the operation, it may turn out that the entire lung should be excised, not just a part of it. In such a situation, a labectomy should be performed instead of the planned wedge resection.
What does lung removal surgery look like?
Lung removal surgeryconsists in opening the chest (the so-called thoracotomy) and removing the diseased part of the lung. After the procedure, the patient spends about 2 weeks in the hospital because there is a risk of upper respiratory tract infections. The patient returns to full fitness approximately 2 months after lung resection.