The Rutgers Health General Thoracic Surgery program performs traditional and minimally invasive thoracic surgeries to treat benign and malignant diseases of the chest, lungs, esophagus, and mediastinum (a partition between the lungs). We often work with patients who have lung cancer and metastasis to the lung.

We perform many procedures, often with the use of minimally invasive tools including:

• daVinci Robotic System
  • For complex surgery using that a surgeon controls from a console
• Navigational bronchoscopy
  • Electromagnetic technology localizes and guides endoscopic tools or catheters through the lung’s bronchial pathways
• Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS)
  • VATS enables patients to be home in 2 to 3 days rather than 7 to 10 days following a thoracotomy (a procedure allowing surgeons to access the chest cavity during surgery)

Our team also performs many procedures including:

• Corrections for conditions that negatively affect daily function, such as rib resections (removal of a segment of rib) for thoracic outlet syndrome (compression of nerves, arteries, or veins running from the lower neck to the armpit)
• Thoracoscopic sympathectomy to create disruption of nerve signals that cause excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) throughout the body, as well as signals that specifically cause “sweaty palms"
• Thymectomy for the treatment of myasthenia gravis
• Tracheal stenting and reconstruction for tracheal stenosis to treat tracheal diseases

Physicians who serve the program are faculty members of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School or Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Both are part of Rutgers University, one of the top research institutions in America. Our doctors are active in research and teach about all aspects of thoracic and cardiothoracic surgery, and each brings leading-edge knowledge from the classroom to the exam room.

If you or a loved one is seeking treatment for thoracic disorders, please make an appointment with the Rutgers Health General Thoracic Surgery program today.