The Division of Thoracic Surgery deals with the whole spectrum of neoplastic disease of the lungs, oesophagus, mediastinum, pleura and chest wall. Surgical treatment of locally advanced tumors is an area of major clinical interest and scientific expertise of the Division, as well as parenchymal – sparing procedures and minimally invasive approach – such as robotic or videoassisted procedures – for early stage diseases.
Another area of clinical interest is palliative approach to advanced neoplastic tracheo-bronchial obstruction and/or compression by laser – assited rigid bronchoscopy; moreover, the development of endobronchial ultrasound during flexible bronchoscopy, optimized preoperative diagnosis and staging of thoracic neoplasms, often skipping more invasive diagnostic procedures.
The Division started, more than 10 years ago, an earlystage lung cancer detection program by low dose multidetector computed tomography and recently implemented by biomarkers and experimental device (the “electronic nose”) potentially able to identify distint characteristics in the exhaled breath of undiagnosed patients with lung cancer.
The Division developed the minimally invasive approach for the treatment of early – stage lung cancers, including robotic technique and video-thoracoscopic major lung resection. The research activity deals with several translational studies on pharmacogenomics, molecular biology, lung carcinogenesis and angiogenesis.
A regenerative medicine program has been recently developed, with execellent experimental and clinical results in bronchial tissue restoration by autologous setm cell transplantation (Petrella F. et al Airway fistula Closure After stem cell infusion” N Engl J Med. 2015 Jan 1;372(1):96-7).
The Division includes the following units: Research Unit
The IEO Thoracic Surgery is among the most important Italian and European thoracic surgery