What Happens During Surgery f... Health Article

You may have another type of treatment before surgery to make the tumor smaller and easier to remove. If so, it’s called neoadjuvant therapy. You may have chemotherapy alone. Or you may have chemotherapy and radiation. The goal of either is to help shrink the tumor so that it is easier to take out. There is usually a 4 week break after the radiation before the surgery. 

On the day of your surgery, an anesthesiologist or a nurse anesthetist will give an anesthesia. This drug makes you fall asleep and not feel pain during the operation. Before surgery, you can ask questions about how the anesthesia will affect you.

The type of surgery you have depends on your health condition and stage of the tumor. The doctor may remove part or all of the affected lung. These are the three main types of lung surgery to remove cancer.

• Lobectomy. This type of surgery removes only the section of the lung, called the lobe, that the cancer is in. It is the most common surgical procedure done for lung cancer that’s only in one lobe of the lung. The parts of the lung that are left expand to fill in the space. During a lobectomy, your surgeon may also remove some of the nearby lymph nodes.

• Wedge resection. This is the most conservative type of surgery for lung cancer. It is done in people who cannot tolerate more extensive surgery. For instance, if you have emphysema, your lungs won’t expand well after a lobectomy. With a wedge resection, your surgeon removes only the tumor itself and a small portion of lung around it, not the entire lobe. The chances of the lung cancer coming back are higher with this type of surgery than with a lobectomy.

• Pneumonectomy. This type of surgery was once the standard treatment for lung cancer. For it, the entire lung that is affected is removed. Now, surgeons only do a pneumonectomy if the tumor cannot be completely removed with a lobectomy.

Sometimes cryosurgery is used to ease symptoms from tumors that are blocking the airways. In cryosurgery, the doctor uses extreme cold to freeze and kill the tumor. The cold is from liquid nitrogen or argon gas. The surgeon cools a hollow instrument called a cryoprobe, inserts it into a bronchoscope, and threads it through the airways to the tumor.