Bronchoscopy is a technique of visualizing the inside of the airways for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. An instrument (bronchoscope) is inserted into the airways, usually through the nose or mouth, or occasionally through a tracheostomy. This allows the practitioner to examine the patient’s airways for abnormalities such as foreign bodies, bleeding, tumors, or inflammation. Specimens may be taken from inside the lungs. The construction of bronchoscopes ranges from rigid metal tubes with attached lighting devices to flexible optical fiber instruments with realtime video equipment.

Esophagoscopy is a technique for screening for esophageal cancer and other disorders. Esophagoscopy has been used by otolaryngologists since 2000 as a diagnostic tool to detect globus, dysphagia, laryngopharyngeal reflux, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Definition/Overview

A lobectomy is the surgical removal of one entire lobe (section) of a lung. The procedure may be performed when an abnormality has been detected in a specific part of the lung. The affected lobe is removed, and the healthy tissue remains. A lobectomy is preformed in early stage NSCLC patients (where cancer has not spread). A lobectomy is normally performed during a thoractomy.

Procedure

A lobectomy is an inpatient procedure and requires general anesthesia. During the procedure, an incision is made in the chest and the ribs spread apart to allow adequate viewing of the lung. Blood vessels and air tubes that supply the lobe being removed will be tied off with sutures. The lobe is removed and possibly a portion of a rib as well. The surgeon places a drainage tube or tubes in the chest to drain fluid that may build up in the chest. You may be given an epidural catheter in order to administer pain medication.

You will normally spend the first day after surgery in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), followed by a hospital stay of up to a week or more. You may need to receive oxygen in the hospital, and possibly after being discharged. The drainage tube will be removed after a few days or until fluid is no longer present. You will work with a respiratory therapist while in the hospital to aid in recovery, and will be given deep-breathing exercises and coughing techniques to help facilitate lung re-expansion and prevent pneumonia.

Lymphadenectomy is the surgical removal of one or more groups of lymph nodes. It is almost always performed as part of the surgical management of cancer. In a regional lymph node dissection, some of the lymph nodes in the tumor area are removed; in a radical lymph node dissection, most or all of the lymph nodes in the tumor area are removed. It is usually done because many types of cancer have a marked tendency to produce lymph node metastasis early in their natural history. This is particularly true of melanoma, head and neck cancer, differentiated thyroid cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer.