After a lobectomy you should expect to stay in the hospital for 4 to 5 days to allow you to recover and for the hospital staff to monitor you.
Then you'll continue recovery from the lobectomy at home.
In general, you may be able to return to work without required lifting around two weeks from discharge. You should take four weeks to recover for jobs that require lifting or after a thoracotomy.
A lobectomy is a type of surgery where an entire lobe of the lung is removed for different reasosn such as for lung cancer diagnoses, infection, benign tumors or infection.
The lobectomy is done in order to remove a portion of a diseased lung such as aearly stage lung cancer.
And in addition to lung cancer a lobectomy surgical procedure can also help treat things such as tuberculosis, emphysema and fungal infections.
A lobectomy is a major surgery.
Some side effects of a lobectomy can be serious.
Your lungs are close to your heart, and the surgeon performing the lobectomy has to be very careful not to injure any parts of your heart or nearby blood vessels.
While many people regard lung cancer surgery as a means to "cut out the cancer," one of the primary aims of the surgery is to restore or improve the quality of life.
And, despite what some may think, people can live normal, active lives even when part or all of a lung is removed.
A lobectomy may be done when a problem is found in just part of a lung.
The affected lobe is removed, and the remaining healthy lung tissue can work as normal.
A lobectomy is most often done during a surgery called a thoracotomy.
Your chest may hurt and be swollen for up to 6 weeks followign the lobectomy and it may ache or feel stiff for up to 3 months.
For up to 3 months, you may also feel tightness, itching, numbness, or tingling around the cut (incision) the doctor made.
Your doctor will give you medicines to help with pain.
Because a lobectomy is a major type of surgery, serious side effects are possible.
The most common risk is an air leak from the inside of the lung to the chest cavity surrounding the lung.
This complication is treated by leaving a tube in the chest cavity to allow air to leak out while the lung heals.
In lobectomy either one third or one half of a lung is removed, along with lymph glands around it.
This is done with you asleep and can be done keyhole (VATS) or open (thoracotomy).
Surgery usually takes between 1 and 3 hours.
The left upper lobectomy is the most challenging of all lobectomies because of the complex arterial branches in the left upper lobe.
If possible, lobectomy should also be avoided in patients with recent myocardial infarction and severe cardiovascular disease.
VATS lobectomy should also be avoided in patients with tumors larger than 6 cm due to technical challenges.