All that You Must be Aware of Thoracotomy
Often there is a need for certain surgical operations to be performed on the organs present in our chest such as our heart, lungs as well as our esophagus. Such kind of operations are usually performed by specialist medical professionals.
Such a kind of major surgery is known as thoracotomy, where a cut is going to be made between our ribs so that doctors can view and access the various organs that are present in the chest.
Webop is one of the e-learning online platforms developed by surgeons and meant for surgeons. This website is ideal for learning about this kind of surgery particularly those who are involved in the medical profession as well as medical students.
Medical professionals can get an opportunity to see a video presentation of the following surgical operations:
- Closing the subcutaneous tissue and skin
- Closing the thoracotomy
- Inserting the rib retractor
- Opening the intercostal space
- Skin incision
- Suturing the ribs
- Suturing the serratus anterior
- Transecting the serratus anterior
Why this surgery is needed?
When surgeons need to investigate the problems of the various organs present in our chest area then this kind of surgery is needed. With the help of this operation, several disease conditions can be treated such as:
- An unknown mediastinal mass
- Anterior spine
- Chest trauma
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Emergencies requiring resuscitation
- Esophageal cancer
- Issues involving the heart and aorta
- Lung cancer
- Persistent pneumothorax
- Tuberculosis
Read also: How Effective is Stem Cell Therapy for Lungs
Different types of thoracotomy surgery
Based on the conditions of the patient, doctors can perform several kinds of thoracotomy surgeries and a few of them are as follows:
1. Posterolateral
One of the most common procedures is typically used for treating lung cancer.
2. Median
This surgery is generally preferred during open heart surgery.
3. Axillary
Mostly used for treating collapsed lungs.
4. Anterolateral
This is an emergency procedure that is done if the patient has a cardiac arrest.
What questions you can ask before going for this surgery?
In case, you or any of your dear one needs this surgery and if you get an opportunity to discuss it with the doctor then you may ask the following few questions before the operation is performed.
- Who is going to perform this complicated surgery?
- If the surgeon has ever done this procedure before then how many cases has he handled so far?
- What are various complications that can be expected in such an operation?
- How long the complete procedure is going to take?
- How long the patient is likely to be in the hospital when the surgery is completed?
- How quickly a patient can resume his/her work?
- Do you recommend that the patient should have pulmonary rehabilitation after the completion of surgery?
- What is expected in the longer run, like one to three years after this operation?
- Whom should we contact in case the patient ever experiences any discomfort after returning home?
Conclusion
As we discussed briefly on thoracotomy, which is one of the major surgeries where a surgeon can access the complete chest cavity. There are several diseases can be diagnosed and also treated with the help of this procedure.
