Learning About Lobectomy

A lobectomy is surgery to remove a part (lobe) of the lungs. Your lungs are made up of five lobes—three in the right lung and two in the left lung. Doctors may remove an entire lobe or part of it. This is called a partial lobectomy.

Most lobectomies are done to treat lung cancer, especially if the cancer is found before it has spread to other parts of the body. You may also have a lobectomy for other reasons, such as damage to the lungs from an infection, disease, or injury.

There are two main options: minimally invasive surgery and thoracotomy.

For minimally invasive surgery, the doctor will use either video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) or robotic-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS), also called robotic VATS.

During VATS, the doctor makes small cuts in your chest. Then the doctor guides a small video camera through a cut between your ribs and to your lungs. The doctor can see inside the chest without having to make a big cut. Small tools are used to cut away the lobe.

During RATS, the doctor uses robotic instruments and a high-definition 3D camera. This allows the doctor to make very small, precise cuts.

If minimally invasive surgery isn’t possible, the doctor will do a thoracotomy, or open lung surgery. The doctor makes a single large cut between the ribs to open up the chest and remove the lobe.

After surgery, you may have a chest tube to drain extra air and fluid from your chest. It will be removed before you leave the hospital.

How long you stay in the hospital depends on the type of surgery you had, your overall health, and how well your lungs are working. If you had VATS or RATS, you can probably leave the hospital after two or three days. If you had a thoracotomy, you need more time to recover. Most people can go home after about a week.

After you leave the hospital, you need to rest at home to give your body time to heal. Talk to your doctor about when it’s safe to resume your normal activities like work, driving, or being active.

Like any surgery, a lobectomy can have risks. Some of them are:

• Atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat).
• Bleeding.
• Infection.
• An air leak in your lung.
• Lung collapse.
• Blood clots.

Most people recover well and can go back to their normal activities after a few weeks.