Department of Thoracic Surgery

We provide surgical treatment for respiratory diseases. Our motto is "Medical care that I and my family would want to receive," and we put our efforts into clinical care every day.
We perform approximately 400 surgeries a year, and as a rule, we use endoscopes. The most common type of surgery is lung cancer (approximately 40%). Other types include lung metastasis, malignant pleural mesothelioma, and mediastinal and chest wall tumors. We also accept emergency medical care, such as pneumothorax, empyema, and chest trauma. Representative lung cancer surgeries include thoracoscopic surgery and segmentectomy, which are less stressful on the body, and recently we have routinely performed robot-assisted surgery. Our hospital has the largest number of cases of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rare disease, in the country. For this reason, we receive referrals from all over the country. We perform highly difficult surgeries, such as pleurectomy and decortication, which preserve the lungs, and doctors from all over the country come to observe our surgeries.
We regularly hold conferences to discuss respiratory diseases. These are forums where cases are discussed jointly with the departments of internal medicine, radiology, and pathology. With the participation of residents and students, the conferences also have an educational aspect. We also engage in medical research that is unique to a university hospital. Aiming for more advanced surgical treatment, we explore a wide range of topics, from clinical questions to basic approaches. All staff members have Graduate School experience and are also medical scientists. With a focus on all aspects of respiratory surgery, we are committed to medicine and medical care in order to fulfill our responsibility as the last stronghold in the region.