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The lung has five lobes. A lobectomy is a surgical procedure that removes one of them. A lobectomy may often be indicated if you have lung cancer.
Video assisted thoracoscopy or VATS is a minimally invasive surgical approach for treating lung cancer and removing a lobe of the lung. But, it is not suitable for all patients.
The procedure requires the use of special instruments and several incisions that are relatively small. The ribs are not spread. A tiny video camera is inserted through one of the incisions to enable the thoracic surgeon to view the chest cavity.
Extraction of part of the lung (lobectomy in many cases) is done without opening the chest. This procedure is an alternative to conventional thoracic surgery, which requires a larger incision with traditional open technique for removal of lung tissue.
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