A new, less aggressive surgery for lung cancer

This approach reduces the volume of lung tissue that needs to be removed by up to 4 times. (Image: Pixabay CC0) - A new surgical approach for people who are detected with early-stage lung cancer has been shown to be as effective and safe as the surgery commonly used for these patients. The merits of this approach, which preserves more of the lung, were recently demonstrated in the New England Journal of Medicine by a North American research team that includes Massimo Conti , a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University, a thoracic surgeon at the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec (IUCPQ), and a researcher at the IUCPQ-Université Laval Research Centre The human lungs are subdivided into 5 lobes. When a non-metastatic tumor is found, the current standard is to perform a resection of the affected lobe. "Advances in medical imaging and the implementation of screening programs now allow for earlier detection of lung tumors. These advances call into question the need to remove an entire lobe, but partial lobar resection had to be proven to be effective and safe for patients," says Massimo Conti. To do this, the researchers recruited 697 people who had a tumor less than 2 cm in diameter in one lung, with no lymph node metastasis.