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Finding out you have a disease like lung cancer is scary. Fortunately, there are surgical diagnosis and treatment options that are minimally invasive. This means they require only tiny incisions and have faster recovery times compared to traditional or open surgeries.
Understanding the different types of minimally invasive procedures and how they can be helpful for people with lung cancer and other conditions can help you worry less about what to expect.
Common minimally invasive procedures
A minimally invasive procedure used to diagnose and treat a variety of medical problems is endoscopy. During an endoscopy, your doctor inserts an endoscope, a long, thin probe, into your body to closely examine the part of the body being examined.
This probe usually has a light and a camera on one end, and your doctor looks at a screen that shows what the camera is recording.
There are many different types of endoscopies, but they all work in the same basic way. A type of endoscope called a laparoscope can be used with surgical instruments in a minimally invasive surgery called laparoscopy to look for problems in your stomach or pelvic area.
During a laparoscopy, the laparoscope is inserted through a small incision in your stomach and displays images on a monitor for your surgeon to see.
Robotic surgery is another minimally invasive procedure. It uses a high-definition (HD) camera that shows a close-up view of the area and a robotic arm with tiny surgical instruments at one end. There’s also a control panel that looks like a video game controller. The surgeon controls the robotic arm, a type of surgical instrument, to perform the operation.
When are minimally invasive procedures used?
While more traditional procedures are sometimes necessary, minimally invasive procedures can be used for many different medical problems throughout the body, including lung cancer and other medical problems that affect the lungs.
For example, healthcare providers may perform a type of endoscopy called a bronchoscopy, which uses a probe to look into your lungs and airways. This procedure can be used to detect lung cancer and determine its severity. Robotic bronchoscopy, performed with systems like Ion and Monarch, uses a smaller probe and a control panel that a healthcare provider controls to precisely move the probe and reach places in the lungs that traditional bronchoscopies cannot access. A three-dimensional map of the lung allows the healthcare provider to control the probe to see exactly where it is and where it needs to go, and guide the probe to nodes that are difficult to reach for biopsies.
Minimally invasive procedures can also be used to treat lung cancer and other lung problems. Instead of the traditional method, which involves an open surgical procedure called a thoracotomy, minimally invasive procedures use smaller incisions and often allow for shorter recovery times. In video-assisted thoracoscopic (CVT) surgery, often used for small, early-stage lung cancers, your doctor makes incisions in your chest and then performs the surgery using a camera and special long-handled tools while watching a video screen.
Robotic surgical devices such as the da Vinci Surgical System or the Mako System use robotic arms (controlled entirely by a physician) in a minimally invasive manner to treat more complex lung problems. Robotic surgery uses a video screen with high-resolution three-dimensional imaging.
The advantages of minimally invasive procedures
Minimally invasive procedures require only tiny incisions and are therefore much gentler on the body, which can mean less pain for the patient, shorter recovery times and smaller scars. Additionally, studies have shown that robotic surgery is associated with better clinical outcomes during the procedure and afterward than other types of minimally invasive or open surgeries. The benefits of robotic surgery include reduced need for blood transfusions, lower complication rates, shorter hospital stays, fewer returns to the hospital after procedures and even lower mortality rates.
Surgery that places less strain on the body can be particularly useful for people undergoing cancer treatment. When your body doesn’t have to work as hard to recover from surgery, it can better handle the next phase of your treatment plan.
And this type of minimally invasive cancer treatment is becoming increasingly common. A recent study from Duke University School of Medicine that looked at more than 76,000 cases of lung cancer found that lung cancer surgeries are becoming less invasive, particularly in younger, healthier patients.
“This is a very encouraging result for the entire community of professionals caring for lung cancer patients,” said study author and Duke School of Medicine professor Xiaofei Wang, Ph.D., in a press release.
Identify your options
Whether you’re dealing with the frightening possibility of a lung cancer diagnosis or another medical problem, minimally invasive surgery could be a potential treatment option.
To learn more about your options for less invasive treatments, talk to your doctor. It can outline your options and help you choose the best solution for your individual needs.
This educational resource was created with support from Intuitive.
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