The Lung Surgery Centre at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore aims to be the centre of excellence for thoracic surgery patients, especially in the field of minimally invasive thoracic surgery.
Surgery is performed to treat various lung diseases. These include lung masses or nodules most commonly lung cancer, collapsed lungs due to air (pneumothorax) or fluid (effusion) accumulating around the lungs and severe lung infection not amenable to conservative management.
In the Lung Surgery Centre at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS), majority of our lung surgeries are performed by our surgeons through a small cut using Uniportal Video–Assisted Thoracic Surgery (UVATS).
UVATS uses only one small cut to perform the surgery, whereas multi-portal VATS uses several small incisions. UVATS is less invasive and causes less pain to the patients thus improving recovery. The surgeon places a scope through the small keyhole incision to view the lung on a video monitor and the operation is performed using specialized minimally invasive instruments. Traditional thoracotomy or open surgery uses a longer incision on the side of the chest. This opening allows the surgeon to see the lungs directly. Thoracotomy may be performed when UVATS or VATS is found to be unsuitable for the disease condition or in an emergency setting.
To address the various lung diseases, our team is trained to performed lung resection surgery such as lobectomy and pneumonectomy. For selected cases, lung-sparing resection surgery such as segmentectomy and wedge resection can also be considered. For lung cancer surgeries, a mediastinal lymph node dissection is also performed through the same incision at the same setting.
For pneumothorax, our team does bullectomy and pleurodesis either by pleurectomy or talc pleurodesis. Bullectomy involves excising the leaking bubble (bullae or bleb) in the lung. To ensure the lung sticks down to the chest wall and prevent a pneumothorax from recurring in the future, we perform pleurectomy which involves stripping the lining (parietal pleura) of the lung or talc pleurodesis which involves instilling sterile powder into the pleural space.
For empyema surgery, our team fully drains the persistent infection in the pleural space to help with the infection and can also release the trapped lung to allow patients to regain their lung function and breath better.
To address pleural effusions, we can drain the fluid collected via a small incision and if necessary perform talc pleurodesis to prevent the effusion from reaccumulating.
Besides surgery, we also offer consultations on lung nodules or lesions picked up on imaging. We can assess the lung mass and advise on risks, prognosis and treatment options available.
