Our Treatment Services

Treatment for thoracic cancers can involve surgery, radiation therapy, systemic therapy such as chemotherapy—or any combination of these. Thoracic cancer treatment and prognosis depends on several factors, including the type and size of the cancer, its location, and the patient’s overall health.

At Maimonides Cancer Center, we believe that successful cancer treatment requires a collaborative team approach. Working closely together every day, our multidisciplinary specialists use their wide-ranging expertise to develop the best treatment plan for each individual patient—and then provide that patient with the latest and most effective treatment approaches available today.

Minimally Invasive Surgery and Other Procedures

At the Maimonides Cancer Center, our board certified thoracic surgeons have vast experience and high success rates with the latest minimally invasive techniques to treat lung and esophageal tumors and cysts, as well as tumors of the mediastinum (middle of the chest) and chest wall. Whenever possible, we use these techniques in place of more traditional or “open” surgeries to treat these thoracic malignancies.

Minimally invasive surgical techniques minimize the trauma of more traditional surgery, speed recovery, and help our patients avoid longer hospitalizations. For patients who cannot tolerate standard surgical treatments for their cancer, our experts also offer several cutting-edge approaches to treat thoracic malignancies.

Maimonides Cancer Center’s thoracic surgeons offer specialized expertise in such minimally invasive treatment approaches as:

• Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS). This innovative technique involves small incisions and the insertion of a tiny video camera inside the chest via a scope. Whenever appropriate, our surgeons can use VATS to remove a large section of the lung (lobectomy) or a smaller segment (segmentectomy), and can remove tumors of the mediastinum and chest wall as well.
• Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy. Our surgeons are specialists in using laparoscopic techniques—the use of special surgical tools inserted through small incisions—to remove the portion of the esophagus which contains the tumor and nearby lymph nodes where the cancer may have spread.
• Sublobar Resections with Brachytherapy. This technique is ideal for patients who are not candidates for standard lung surgery. During this procedure, the surgeon uses minimally invasive techniques to remove a part of a lung, and then implants radioactive seeds to prevent the cancer from growing back.
• Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS) Medistinal Staging for Lung Tumors. Using a bronchoscope with a small ultrasound transmitter that produces detailed images, surgeons can assess a patient’s lymph nodes and determine if the lung cancer has spread to other parts of the body. This minimally invasive procedure helps patients avoid unnecessary surgery.
• Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA). This image-guided technique can be used for lung and chest wall tumors and dysplastic esophageal disease. During this ablative procedure, a needle electrode is guided into a cancerous tumor, and then high-frequency electrical currents are used to heat and destroy the cancer cells.
• Laser Therapy. During this procedure, a narrow beam of intense light is used to shrink or destroy lung tumors or tumors which are blocking the esophagus.

Radiation Therapy

Maimonides Cancer Center provides patients with the very latest evidence-based radiation treatments in our state-of-the-art radiation therapy unit, which has been recognized as one of the safest and most accurate units in the country. Here, our dedicated radiation oncologists and medical physicists and therapists utilize state-of-the-art treatment planning equipment to pinpoint the tumors and spare unnecessary toxicity to the normal tissues.

Once a treatment plan is developed, our radiation oncology team uses the most advanced therapies available for radiation delivery, including endobronchial brachytherapy, endoscopic brachytherapy, and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

Systemic Therapy

When chemotherapy or other systemic therapies are a part of the treatment plan for thoracic cancer, our medical oncology team has the specialized knowledge and expertise necessary to match the disease with the best therapies. Maimonides Cancer Center’s medical oncologists are also involved with clinical research protocols for innovative agents or dosing methods, which give our patients access to state-of-the-art therapies that are not widely available elsewhere.

Other Therapies for Thoracic Cancers

If the airway or esophagus has been narrowed by a tumor, Maimonides has special experience in performing minimally invasive endoscopic therapy to place stents that will open up the airway or esophagus. Our physicians also specialize in ablative therapies for airway and esophageal tumors, including Radiofrequency ablation (RFA), Photodynamic therapy, and laser therapy. These ablative therapies use electrical energy or lasers to shrink or destroy the tumors.