New step in lung cancer surgery

Surgery with a robot to treat lung cancer is much less invasive than traditional chest surgery.

Heart surgery - chest surgery Lim Chong Hee, CH Lim Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic, Singapore, said previously surgery to treat lung cancer is always a major surgery. To reach the lungs, the doctor needs to open the patient's chest through a 13-25cm incision. Sometimes a temporary rib is removed or special equipment is needed to extend the bones to reach the location of the operation.

Recent medical advances have helped doctors to remove the lobe of the lung less pain and less blood loss. These are the minimally invasive surgical procedures. There are currently two options : Supported thoracic surgery (VATS) or robotic surgery.

With the VATS procedure, the doctor only needs to make a small incision to insert the chest tube. It is a long, thin tube with a camera attached to the head, making it easy for the doctor to check the chest cavity. Then, tissue removal devices are inserted through several other small holes.

Robot surgery uses the da Vinci surgery system, approaching the position to be operated through small incisions.(Artwork: News).

Robot surgery uses the da Vinci surgery system, approaching the position to be operated through small incisions. Movement of robots controlled by surgeons. By using 3D technology, robots provide better image quality and better access to some tissues.

According to Dr. Lim, both robot surgery and VATS are far less invasive than traditional chest surgery.

There are also a number of new medical inventions, such as endoscopic staples, to make chest surgery safer. Endoscopic pins allow the doctor to perform a cut and close wound at the same time, saving time. Closing the wound quickly is important because the pulmonary process often causes a leak into the empty cavity, if prolonged time is easy to cause infection and reduce the patient's lung function.

Dr. Lim noted the choice of minimally invasive treatment to consider depending on the characteristics of each patient and the stage of the cancer. For example, with early stage lung cancer (stage one and two), surgery offers many possibilities for curing. At this time, VATS surgery is a good choice. The doctor only needs to make three small holes from 10 to 40mm to reach the location of the lobe to remove.

Studies show that the therapeutic effect of VATS surgery is equivalent to or better than open surgery. This procedure also has the same advantages as other minimally invasive surgery: Helping patients with less pain, no rib shrinkage, short hospital stay, patients return to work and life soon more often.

Statistics in Singapore, about 90% of lung lobe removal surgeries are performed by VATS, but this procedure is not well applied in some Southeast Asian countries. Less than 15% of regional lung lobe removal is done with VATS. In fact, the VATS trick requires more initial investment.

"In the future, the need for minimally invasive surgery will increase. Doctors around the world also aim for single-hole surgery to reduce the incisions in the patient's body. Robot surgery will also become popular." more, " said Dr. Lim.