Could Deliberate Lung Collapse Make Mesothelioma Procedure Safer?
A group of researchers in the Oxford University Centre for Respiratory Medicine have evidence that, in certain cases,deliberately collapsing a lung could improve treatment for people with malignant pleural mesothelioma. In a recently published study in the journal Thorax, the group reported data that deliberately deflating a lung, called pneumothorax induction, can sometimes make it easier and safer to perform a surgical procedure called thoracoscopy. Local anesthetic thoracoscopy (LAT) is a minimally invasive method for examining or performing biopsies or surgeries in the pleural cavity around the lungs where mesothelioma starts. It utilizes an instrument called a thorascope with a light source and a lens. Using a thorascope, surgeons can perform procedures on mesothelioma patients without having to use general anesthetic…