Requirements and Procedures of Lung Cancer Surgery

Surgery is the primary method of treating certain cancers, such as the breast, colon and rectum, stomach, uterus, and the lungs. Cancer surgery involves the surgical removal of the tumor. However, healthy neighboring tissue around the tumor may also be removed in order to prevent the cancer cells from spreading.

Lung cancer surgery is the surgical removal of the tumor and cancer tissues from the lung.

Surgeons require full assessment of the status of a patient's lung cancer before performing the surgery. These are some of the requirements in the assessment of the lung cancer before a surgery can take place:

• Confirmation of the presence, location, and size of the cancer cells or the tumor through the use of CT scanning and PET (Positron Emissions Tomography).

• Identification of the type of cell damaged by cancer.

• The gravity of effects of the cancer cells or the tumor to the surrounding tissues or other body organs.

• The patient being on the T1, T2, or T3 stage of cancer.

Surgeons also require full assessment of the status of the patient's health in order to determine if he or she is fit for surgery. These are some of the requirements in the assessment of the patient's health before a surgery can take place:

• Healthy, without any other disease or illness in the patient's body

• High or average performance status in physical testing

• Normal or adequate pulmonary reserve (reserves would allow minimal lung function once the cancer tissues have been removed)

• Blood tests revealing good respiratory reserve

There are four types of procedures in lung cancer surgery:

• Wedge excision (removal of a part of a lobe)

• Lobectomy (removal of one lobe)

• Bilobectomy (removal of two lobes)

• Pneumonectomy (removal of the entire damaged lung)

However, surgery does not guarantee full recovery from the cancer. Recurrence can happen because of the spread of the cancer cells to the other parts of the lung. Lung cancer surgery has an average death rate of five percent. Also, the operation cannot treat the final stage of lung cancer. Patients with T4 lung cancer cannot be operated because the cancer cells would have spread throughout the body. In this stage, chemotherapy is the last resort. Usually, most people who arrive at this stage untreated would die.