Emory's Center for Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery 

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Progressive and innovative treatment

Clinical Overview | Research Overview | Surgical Team

Clinical Overview

The Emory General Thoracic Surgery Center in Atlanta, Georgia, has developed and refined various treatments for disorders of the structures and organs of the chest, particularly the lungs and esophagus. Emphasizing and applying minimally invasive methods whenever appropriate, the center is one of only a handful of clinical programs in the country that offers minimally invasive esophagectomy, lobectomy and sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis. Additionally, the center is the only service in Georgia to accept Medicare patients for lung volume reduction surgery.

Conditions and diseases treated by Emory general thoracic surgeons include:

	Achalasia
	Diaphragmatic paralysis
	Emphysema
	Esophageal cancer
	Gastroesophageal reflux disease
	Hiatal hernia
	Paraesophageal hernia
	Hyperhidrosis
	Lung cancer
	Malignant pleural effusion
	Mesothelioma
	Metastatic cancer to the lungs (colon, renal, sarcoma, etc.)
	Pericardial effusion
	Thoracic outlet syndrome
	Tracheal stenosis and/or cancer

Our surgeons are also the surgical staff of the Emory Lung Transplant Program.

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Cancer Research Overview

The center has dramatically increased the number of thoracic surgery-based cancer protocols at Emory by being the only academic site participating in clinical trials sponsored by the prestigious American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG), a research organization established primarily to evaluate the surgical management of patients with malignant solid tumors. The center is also directly involved in setting national and international standards for quality assurance in its field by being a data-collection site for the General Thoracic Surgery Database of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

The Carlyle Fraser Heart Center at Emory Crawford Long Hospital, a nationally known research facility, coordinates many of the center's clinical and laboratory research projects, including investigation of the use of proteinomics for the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma, evaluation of hyperthermic pleural lavage for the treatment of malignant pleural effusions and the role of GERD in chronic rejection in lung transplantation.

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Surgical Team

	Dr. Daniel Miller is the Kamal A. Mansour Professor of Thoracic Surgery and Chief of the General Thoracic Surgery Center. He is also the Surgical Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program of the Winship Cancer Institute as well as Co-Chair of Emory's Respiratory Center. In 2003, Dr. Miller initiated the Emory Hyperhidrosis Center, the only service of its type in Georgia offering minimally invasive microthoracoscopic sympathectomy for treating hyperhidrosis.
	Dr. Seth Force is the Surgical Director of the Emory Lung Transplant Program. Since coming to Emory, Dr. Force has helped triple the number of adult lung transplants performed per year by the service.
	Dr. Kamal Mansour, who practices at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, perfected a technique replacing the esophagus with a section of bowel. In 2001 he was awarded the Shield of Medicine by the Medical Scientific Society of Egypt for being one of the ten most outstanding Egyptian doctors in the world, and in 2008 he received the prestigious Emory Medal for distinguished service and notable professional and academic achievement.
	Practicing at Emory since 1974, Dr. Joseph Miller, Jr., was the Director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery for six years and has received numerous local and national Best Doctor awards.
	Dr. Alan Picken's clinical specialties include minimally invasive pulmonary resection, sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis, lung transplantation, esophageal surgery and treating other surgical diseases of the chest, while his primary research interests are clinical and translational lung cancer research and minimally invasive surgical technology. He came to Emory in 2008 from the University of Michigan Health System, where he was the thoracic surgery workforce coordinator.

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