Sublobar Resection Surgery for Early Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Helps Preserve Lung Capacity

“For decades, the standard treatment for lung cancer was to remove the entire lobe of the lung that had the cancer in it,” says Mark Hennon, MD, FACS, Vice Chair of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

But for those patients who have early stage non-small cell lung cancer, whose disease has not spread to the lymph nodes, a sublobar resection could offer many advantages, including a shorter recovery period from a less-invasive surgery and retaining more lung capacity. Recent data suggests patients who have a sublobar resection, in which only the cancerous tumor is removed, have “equal long-term survival” compared with the removal of the entire lobe of the affected lung.

It's not always immediately clear if a patient is a good candidate for a sublobar resection, Dr. Hennon says. “By referring the patient to Roswell Park, they can be evaluated for a lung-sparing approach.”