Video-Assisted Thorascopic Surgery vs. Open Thoracotomy
Transcript
Historically, lung cancer has been treated with a large incision between the ribs, and in the early-mid ‘90s we began to investigate uses of the laparoscope, which was used to do gallbladders and so forth, in the chest. So we began using the devices to do more limited resections with this and ultimately we were able to have instrumentation which has allowed us to do more anatomic resections, in other words a lobectomy and segments and so forth, with the video instruments — so-called video thoracoscopy.