Case Study
Medical Thoracoscopy
Thoracoscopy is a procedure a doctor uses to look at the space inside the chest (outside of the lungs). This is done with a thoracoscope, a thin, flexible tube with a light and a small video camera on the end. The tube is put in through a small cut made near the lower end of the shoulder blade between the ribs. Thoracoscopy is sometimes done as part of a VATS procedure, which is short for video assisted thoracic surgery.
Why do you need thoracoscopy?
There are a few reasons you might need a thoracoscopy:
To find out why you are having lung problems
This test is used to look for the causes of problems in the lungs (such as trouble breathing or coughing up blood).
You have a suspicious area in your chest that needs to be checked
Thoracoscopy can be used to look at an abnormal area seen on an imaging test (such as a chest x-ray or CT scan). It also can be used to take biopsy samples of lymph nodes, abnormal lung tissue, the chest wall, or the lining of the lung (pleura). It is commonly used for people with mesothelioma and lung cancer.
To treat small lung cancers
Thoracoscopy can sometimes be used to treat small lung cancers by removing just the part of the lung that contains the tumor (wedge resection) or the lobe of a lung (lobectomy) if the tumor is larger. In certain cases it may also be used to treat cancers of the esophagus or thymus gland.