A thoracotomy is an operation that lets a surgeon see and work on your heart, lungs, or esophagus. ... This causes less pain than the full-scale surgery, and you get better faster.

Early thoracotomy should be carried out in the treatment of this frequently fatal condition. Notes Presented at a meeting of the Upstate Thoracic Society, Saranac Lake, New York, July 24, 1954.

For example, their median hospital LOS was 5 days, compared to 6 days for the sternotomy group (P = .003), and 33.1% of the mini-thoracotomy patients were discharged within 4 days of the surgery ...

Emergency surgery is the most effective treatment for penetrating cardiac injuries and cardiac tamponade, the authors noted. London's Air Ambulance provides 24/7 advanced trauma care and has ...

The first VATS procedure was performed in 1992 to remove a lung. Before VATS, the standard technique for treating chest conditions was a more invasive procedure called a thoracotomy.

If the lymph nodes contain cancer cells your doctor usually recommends that you have chemotherapy after your surgery. How you have your operation. To remove your lung cancer, you might have open ...