Robotic Surgery for Lung Cancer

Thanks to incredible advances in robotic surgery, people who need lung cancer surgery are experiencing better outcomes than ever before. Robotic surgery for lung cancer is minimally invasive—meaning it only requires several small incisions to access the lungs. Traditional open lung cancer surgery involves one large incision to spread apart the ribs and see the lungs.

At Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, most of our patients are treated using robotic surgery, leading to better staging, easier recoveries and excellent outcomes. We can perform all types of lung cancer surgery robotically, including robotic-assisted lobectomies and wedge resections.

What Is Robotic Surgery for Lung Cancer?

During robotic lung surgery, a thoracic (lung and chest) oncology surgeon uses a robotic surgical system to operate on the lungs. At Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, we use the da Vinci surgical system.

Using this technology, your surgeon sits at a console next to you to control the surgical instruments. They include:

• High-definition, 3D camera that can magnify images
• Robotic instruments that can move like wrists and hands

During the procedure, your surgeon:

1. Inserts the camera and instruments into your chest area through small incisions
2. Performs lung surgery using these instruments
3. Removes lung tissue through the small incisions

Benefits of Robotic Lung Surgery

By offering minimally invasive robotic surgery for lung cancer, our patients experience:

• Less pain: More than 90 percent of our patients don’t need opioids or narcotics after surgery. Traditional open surgery tends to be among the most invasive, painful procedures.
• Faster recoveries: Hospital stays after robotic lung surgery are one to two days versus the traditional four to five days. Many of our patients are back to most activities and driving within one to two weeks of their surgery. Getting back to activities after open surgery traditionally takes eight to 12 weeks.
• No ICU stays: Instead of going from the operating room to the ICU (intensive care unit) after surgery, our patients go straight to a regular room in our post-op floor unit. Specially trained nurses oversee their recovery. Family and friends don’t experience restricted ICU visiting hours and can see you from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. like other non-ICU patients.
• Fewer hospital readmissions: Quality hospitals have low rates of unplanned readmissions after a previous hospital stay. Our readmission rate is very low and significantly better than the national average.

What Is the Difference Between VATS and Robotic Surgery?

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is another type of minimally invasive thoracic surgery. During VATS:

1. Surgeons use a thin tube with a camera on the end called a thoracoscope and instruments with long handles to perform lung cancer surgeries.
2. The thoracoscope broadcasts the inside of the chest area on a TV screen. A member of the surgery team controls the thoracoscope while your surgeon operates.
3. Like robotic lung surgery, surgeons access the chest area through small incisions.

The da Vinci surgical system allows thoracic oncology surgeons to visualize and perform surgery more precisely than VATS:

• The surgeon—not an assistant—controls the camera, eliminating miscommunications about where the surgeon wants to look.
• The da Vinci system magnifies the surgical field tremendously, so surgeons see things in great detail that the naked eye misses.
• The thoracoscope has just one camera. The da Vinci camera is two cameras in one, giving surgeons binocular vision. Binocular vision helps them see better than they could with the naked eye. Improving a surgeon’s ability to see corresponds with better outcomes.

Request an Appointment for Lung Cancer Surgery

To make an appointment at the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute, call 717-544-9400 or request an appointment using our online form.