What is a Segmentectomy?

Transcript

Currently, we’re finding more and more early stage lung cancers through our screening efforts and through being more vigilant with incidental lung nodules. We’re finding more and more of these lung cancers at a stage where the tumor is smaller, which is great. That has a big impact on prognosis.

But it’s also led surgeons to wonder, well, for these really small lung cancers, can we do less than a complete lobectomy, but more than a wedge resection, we want to achieve the same decreased local recurrence risk. But if we can preserve more of the lung, we know that that’s better for the patient in terms of quality of life.

For those tumors that are less than two centimeters, there’s a procedure called a segmentectomy that may be offered. The lungs are divided up into 19 segments, and based on where that lung nodule is, if it’s in the center of a lung segment, it may be feasible to remove that segment instead of the entire lobe. And there’s a lot of very strong data coming out to support that.

In the right nodules, where you can get a good margin, the nodule itself is small and the lymph node dissection is just as robust that a segmentectomy can have an equivalent outcome for those specific cancers as a lobectomy, while preserving a large portion of lung function.

Key Takeaways

1. We’re finding more and more early stage lung cancers with screening and being more vigilant with incidental lung nodules.

2. It’s also led surgeons to wonder if they can do less than a complete lobectomy, but more than a wedge resection to achieve the same decreased local recurrence risk.

3. For tumors that are less than two centimeters, there’s a procedure called a segmentectomy to remove a segment instead of the entire lobe.

4. In the right nodules, a segmentectomy can have an equivalent outcome for those specific cancers as a lobectomy, while preserving a large portion of lung function.