Sleeve Resection for Lung Cancer

Overview
Sleeve resection surgery is a procedure used to treat certain people with non-small cell lung cancer. Sleeve resection is performed by opening the chest and removing a lobe from a lung, along with some nearby tissue. The left lung has two lobes and the right lung has three. The goal of the surgery is to avoid removing an entire lung. Sleeve resection is sometimes referred to as sleeve lobectomy.

What does it involve?
Sleeve resection is performed under general anesthesia. The surgeon will make an incision in the side of the body where the affected lobe is. The lobe will be removed, along with nearby lymph nodes, blood vessels, and bronchial tissue.

Sleeve resection is an inpatient procedure and usually takes one to two hours. You will typically spend five to seven days in the hospital afterward for monitoring. It can take many months to recover fully from the surgery.

Side effects
Risks from sleeve resection include an opening forming between the airways in the lung and the area just outside the lung (bronchopleural fistula), fluid collecting between the lung and chest wall (pleural effusion), pneumonia, abnormal heart rhythms, infection, bleeding, shortness of breath, and, rarely, death.

For more details about this treatment, visit:

Sleeve Resection — University Hospitals Birmingham
http://www.thoracicsurgery.co.uk/sleeve-resection

Sleeve Lobectomy — Mercy Health
https://www.mercy.com/health-care-services/canc...