Lung cancer surgery is one of my main activities. In Luxembourg, between 220 and 250 people are newly diagnosed each year of lung cancer. Among them, about 20-25% have a sufficiently localized tumour at the time of diagnosis to be a candidate for a definitive cure by means of a surgical resection. The best treatment for any localized lung cancer is surgery. Despite any progresses in medical therapy for lung cancer, surgical resection remains responsible for almost all long-term survivors of lung cancer. The choice of the best treatment and the decision for surgical treatment meets strict criteria set internationally by "guidelines" and every patient's file is discussed locally by a multi-disciplinary meeting (called RCP in Luxembourg: Réunion de Concertation Pluri-disciplinaire).

More than half of the patients who have been surgically treated for lung cancer by our team are alive without disease 5 years after surgery. No other type of treatment can provide such results.

Most surgical resections for lung cancer may nowadays be performed by minimally invasive techniques (thoracoscopy or VATS). We perform minimally invasive lung cancer surgery since 2003 and in 2015,  more than 80% of all major resections for lung cancer at Zithaklinik were performed by thoracoscopy/VATS (even more than 90% in 2016 and 2017).  Currently only the very complex procedures for locally advanced cancers ("sleeve"-bronchoplasties, surgery after induction (radio)-chemotherapy ...) still require to be performed through intercostal openings called thoracotomy..