Can minimally invasive surgery completely remove the tumor?

On March 28, 2021, the 63rd patient education live broadcast of TopMD's brand patient education column "Let's Meet the Great Doctor" in the field of oncology discussed the following topics: Are small lung nodules lung cancer? Why are more and more people finding small lung nodules during examinations? What should I do if I have small lung nodules? How to detect lung cancer early?

This live broadcast is the first in the "Extraordinary Tumor Surgery Big Show" series of TopMD's "Let's Meet the Doctor" 2021 National Cancer Prevention and Control Promotion Week special planning. We invited Professor Xue Zhiqiang, chief physician of the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the First Medical Center of the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, and Wen Jiaxin, attending physician of the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the First Medical Center of the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, to broadcast live on the homepages of 9 platforms on the TopMD all-media matrix: Xinhuanet, Sina News, Tencent News, Tencent Video, Toutiao, Xigua Video, Baidu Health, and Qutoutiao, with an online viewing volume of 799,247 times.

We edited this live broadcast and broadcast it twice on the entire network. In today's episode (2), we will talk about: Why is the staging before lung cancer surgery so important? What is minimally invasive surgery for lung cancer? Can minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery achieve the same results as traditional open-chest surgery? How is minimally invasive surgery performed? What is robotic surgery? What should we pay special attention to before and after lung cancer surgery? Today's "Let's Meet the Doctor" will give you the answers!

Preoperative staging is crucial!

When a patient is highly suspected of having lung cancer and is prepared for surgery, the doctor will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the patient's systemic condition, including the head, bones, and various organs, and evaluate the current lung cancer stage based on whether it has metastasized and the size of the lesion. If there is no distant metastasis or lymph node metastasis, the initial staging can usually consider this to be early lung cancer.

In addition to the oncological assessment, the patient's cardiopulmonary function should also be assessed to determine whether the patient can tolerate surgery. Patients with early-stage lung cancer must have confidence that surgery is an important means of radical cure.

What is minimally invasive surgery for lung cancer?

The incision of traditional thoracotomy is 20cm-30cm. Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery no longer requires a large incision. It can be completed through a few 3-4cm small holes. The surgery is less traumatic, less bleeding, less painful, and faster to recover. Most patients with early lung cancer can now use minimally invasive surgery to remove the lesions.

What is da Vinci robotic surgery? How many days after surgery can I be discharged from the hospital? Is it normal to have pain and redness and swelling at the incision after minimally invasive surgery? What should I do? Please find the answers in this issue for details.

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