Thoracic Surgery Program

The Emory Thoracic Surgery Program is a comprehensive offering of general thoracic surgery procedures from minimally invasive thoracic surgery to complex surgeries such as lung transplantation. Emory offers the latest and most innovative cancer surgery techniques and treatments, in conjunction with our oncology colleagues, to provide an individualized care plan to meet each patient’s specific needs. Our multidisciplinary care teams include pathologists, radiologists, nurse navigators, and support oncology staff. These teams develop the most current discoveries in lung and other aerodigestive treatment.

What is Thoracic Surgery?

Thoracic surgery is any type of surgery performed on organs and tissues located within the chest cavity. Patients are referred to thoracic surgery when a chest condition requires surgical consult or treatment.

Emory’s expertise is available to patients in need of diagnostic and treatment services for benign and malignant disease of the lung, esophagus, mediastinum, and chest wall. Selecting your Emory thoracic surgeon is based on your personal choice and your hospital preference. To see the full list of our Emory surgeons, with their practice locations, please click here. Within each profile you will find phone numbers to directly request a consult.

Types of Thoracic Procedures

Our team specializes in minimally invasive procedure and complex thoracic surgery including:

• Lung cancer surgery including
  • Lobectomy - most common thoracic surgery used to treat lung cancer, and involves removing a lobe of the lung.
  • Pneumonectomy - removal of an entire lung.
• Esophageal cancer surgery
• Surgery for hiatal hernia and reflux
• Surgery for Myasthenia Gravis and tumors of the thymus gland
• Tracheal surgery for cancer or stenosis
• Surgery for Mesothelioma
• Surgery for chest wall tumors
• Robotic Thoracic Surgery

These surgeries may be performed through a large incision in the chest wall (a thoracotomy) or via video-assisted thoracoscopy or robotic assisted thoracoscopy (VATS, RATS), which are minimally invasive thoracic procedures which only requires several small incisions in the chest wall for an inserted scope and through which a tumor is removed.

Why Choose Emory?

Our program is the only thoracic surgery program in Georgia associated with a major medical school and a National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Emory thoracic surgery team is on the forefront of clinical research in thoracic surgery, focusing on surgical outcomes and how patients recover from surgery. Each member of our team is focused on utilizing and developing state of the art techniques to give patients the best results and shortest recovery.

Lung Cancer Care through Winship at Emory
Emory’s Thoracic Surgery program is part of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, the only cancer center in Georgia designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Part of an elite group of centers nationwide that are on the forefront of the battle against lung cancer, our comprehensive multidisciplinary team of lung cancer doctors in medical, surgical and radiation oncology, lung imaging and pathology work together to personalize your lung cancer treatment.

We provide the latest in technology for lung cancer surgery and surgical clinical trials. The goal of a lung cancer surgery is to eradicate the cancer while leaving as many healthy cells as possible and minimizing the effects of surgery. With a prestigious National Cancer Institute designation, our comprehensive cancer center is in the top one percent of centers selected to conduct the most advanced clinical trials in the country. We are here to take care of you.