thoracic surgery Archives
Criteria for lung cancer screens may be expanded
Jul. 23, 2020—The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is recommending two changes that will nearly double the number of people eligible for lung cancer screening by lowering the age from 55 to 50 and reducing the number of smoking history pack years from 30 to 20.
Rehab technique may help increase donor lung supply
Apr. 30, 2020—A new technique shows the potential to increase the supply of donor lungs by rehabilitating those organs previously considered too damaged for transplant.
Medical, biological engineering institute honors Bacchetta
Apr. 23, 2020—Matthew Bacchetta, MD, MBA, MA, associate professor of Thoracic Surgery and adjunct associate professor of Biomedical Engineering, has been inducted to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
VUMC offering new minimally invasive emphysema therapy
Nov. 7, 2019—VUIMC will be the first in the state to offer a minimally invasive, non-surgical alternative for patients with emphysema.
ECMO program expanding to more intensive care units
Sep. 12, 2019—VUMC is expanding its ECMO program from its longtime home in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) to the Medical (MICU) and Trauma Intensive Care units.
VUMC performs its first transplant using rehabilitated lungs
Aug. 1, 2019—For the first time at Vanderbilt, doctors have performed a transplantation with donated lungs that were rehabilitated using a procedure called ex vivo lung perfusion.
Rehab technique may boost supply of donor lungs
May. 9, 2019—A new regeneration technique could potentionally add to a limited supply of donor organs for an increasing population with end-stage lung disease.
Team explores fungal infection quandary in lung cancer screenings
Apr. 18, 2019—Serving a region that lies within the tobacco belt, clinicians at Vanderbilt Health face challenges distinguishing lung cancer from histoplasmosis, a fungal infection that creates cancer-mimicking lesions in the lungs.
New robot expands options for thoracic surgery patients
Apr. 26, 2018—The thoracic surgery team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently added a new tool to its collection of minimally invasive techniques to provide patients the most advanced robotic-assisted surgical procedures.
Team to develop steerable robotic needle for biopsies
Oct. 26, 2017—Collaboration between a mechanical engineer at Vanderbilt University and a pulmonologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has resulted in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant that will be used to develop a steerable robotic needle to safely biopsy hard-to-reach lung nodules.
Genetics of lung cancer survival
Jun. 29, 2017—Vanderbilt investigators have conducted a first-of-its-kind genome-wide association study of lung cancer survival in African-Americans.
Grant spurs lung cancer surgery research
Sep. 18, 2014—Joe B. (Bill) Putnam Jr., M.D., Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and chair of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, and colleague Felix Fernandez, M.D., assistant professor of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, have received a grant to investigate the most effective forms of surgery to treat lung cancer patients.
