Considerations in choosing a surgeon. Operations for esophageal cancer are performed by general thoracic surgeons like me (so you know my prejudice), surgical oncologists and general surgeons. Who should operate on you? Appropriate considerations will resemble my previous thoughts for lung cancer surgery. The experience the surgeon had in Read More
Category: Chest Surgery
Progress is made. Despite Torek’s “successful” esophagectomy discussed in the previous blog, few such operations were subsequently performed. In 1933 the British surgeon Grey-Turner introduced an alternative technique for esophagectomy. He made incisions in the neck and abdomen and, sliding his hands down and up respectively, freed and removed the Read More
Into the chest. The chest is the home of most of the esophagus, so it is the location of most cancers. Operating in the chest was impossible until sufficient anesthesia capabilities were established and the lungs could be ventilated. No awake and sentient patient could tolerate the pain of a Read More
Esophageal cancer. There are different types and locations The esophagus is the “tube” that food slides through to get from the mouth to the stomach. It’s a biologic conveyer belt. No digestion, just transportation. Cancer of the esophagus has been known for millennia to be very lethal. It arises inside Read More
Sweat. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Don’t sweat it. Bad advice if taken literally. Sweat plays an important role in preventing hyperthermia, when the body overheats. Hyperthermia can be fatal as internal organs over heat and eventually fail. The beads of salty water we call sweat evaporate Read More
What two surgeons did not do dramatically changed the course of American Surgery. I have discussed the contributions of two influential pioneer surgeons Macewen and Graham. They also changed the course of Surgery in the USA by something they did not do. Both men were offered the position of Chairman Read More
Be prepared. The lung cancer in most patients on whom we thoracic surgeons operate is situated entirely within a lobe of the lung and a lobectomy is a sufficient operation. Occasionally, as previously discussed, it is too large or is positioned such that an entire lung must be removed; a Read More
Homogeneity does not describe the surgical community. This can confuse someone looking for the right lung cancer surgeon. There are general surgeons and thoracic surgeons (who have confusingly self-divided themselves into cardiac, cardiothoracic and general thoracic subspecialties). Within all these surgical groups can be found surgeons who operate for lung Read More
Staging cancer…it has nothing to do with the theater. In short, staging is determining the extent of the lung cancer. Is the tumor invading into structures outside the lung such as the rib cage or the heart? Has the cancer spread through the lymphatic system to lymph nodes near but Read More
Lung operations in humans arrive. In 1931, Rudolf Nissen reported the first successful pneumonectomy (removal of an entire lung in surgeonese). His patient was a 12-year-old girl with chronic infection. She suffered a cardiac arrest during an initial attempt, was resuscitated and underwent the successful operation two weeks later. Nissen Read More
