Lung Surgery- An Overview

Chest wall resection is done in order to remove large benign chest tumors. The surgery removes any abnormal growth from the lung, pleural membrane or cartilage and even the tissue on the ribs or sternum. So, chest wall resection not only involves removal of the affected pleural membrane but it may also need to remove parts of the ribs or sternum and the skin that covers the chest. The amount of tissue to be removed will mainly depend upon the extent of the damage caused.

Sleeve resection is required to be performed when the upper lobe of the lung is damaged along with a part of the trachea or the main windpipe. After the upper lobe is removed, the rest of the lung is reattached to the remaining main airway. Sleeve resection is carried out to remove any extra growth or any other problem in the bronchus or the upper lobe of the lung.

Bullectomy is carried out by the surgeon when some weak areas on the surface of the lungs need to be removed or treated. These developed weak surfaces on the lung surface can burst as balloons. In order to solve this problem the surgeon identifies such weak spots on the lungs and then staple them thereby get rid of the weak spots. If the condition is not treated the bullaes may cause pneumothorax or collapse of the lung.

Lung surgery is performed if the lungs suffer some injury or maybe for the removal of blood and blood clots from the lungs, tumour from lugs or removal of chest infection. Complete removal of a lung is known as pneumonectomy. Pneumonectomy is performed to remove tumorous lung tissue which usually develops into cancer if not treated early. But even if the lung tissues become cancerous, lung removal must be done in order to prevent the malignant tissue to spread and affect other organs.