Minimally Invasive and Robotic-Assisted Thoracic Surgery
Chest surgeries that once required large incisions may now be performed through tiny incisions employing laparoscopic surgical tools and a tiny camera (called a thoracoscope) inserted into the chest. Minimally invasive thoracic surgery, also called video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), typically involves three to four small incisions about half an inch in diameter (smaller than a dime).
UF surgeons at Shands Jacksonville have been performing VATS procedures since 1990 and offer it as a surgical option for:
- Biopsies of the lung or lymph nodes
- Removal of suspicious lung nodules
- Treatment of pneumothorax (air inside the chest from ruptured lung tissue)
- Diaphragmatic plication (tightening of a paralyzed diaphragm muscle to improve breathing)
- Removal of a section of a lung (VATS lobectomy)
- Removal of the entire lung (VATS pneumonectomy)
- Surgery of the esophagus
In certain cases, surgeons may use the da Vinci Surgical System to perform detailed work inside the chest through the same small incisions.
Advantages for patients who undergo this procedure typically include less pain, earlier discharge, fewer complications and earlier return to full activity. Most patients have some discomfort for a few days immediately following surgery and are discharged with pain medication.
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