Thoracic surgery

 
Thoracic surgery basically deals with all organs located inside the chest cavity – with the exception of the heart and the main artery (aorta). This specialty also includes the treatment of tumors, malformations/deformities and accidental injuries to the ribs and sternum.
 
However, the most common operations involve the lungs, particularly to treat lung cancer. Furthermore, in appropriate cases, lung metastases from tumors outside the lungs are also surgically removed. The spectrum of thoracic surgery also includes the surgical removal of tumors from other organs, such as thymomas (arising from the thymus gland), schwannomas and gangliomas (arising from nerves), tumors from ribs and sternum/soft tissue tumors (non-malignant and malignant (sarcomas)), thyroid tumors (which occasionally extend down into the chest cavity expand) etc.
 
 
Congenital malformations of the thorax such as the funnel chest (sternum has sunk inwards) or the keeled chest (sternum protrudes strongly), or acute injuries such as rib fractures and fractures of the sternum occasionally need to be treated be treated by a thoracic surgeon. This also applies to changes in the diaphragm (the most important ‘respiratory muscle’), whether these are congenital (e.g. diaphragmatic hernias), acquired (e.g. diaphragm paralysis with raised diaphragm and difficulty breathing) or due to an accident (injuries to the diaphragm – ‘diaphragm rupture’).