Respiratory Surgery

(1) Overview

NTT medical Centre Tokyo is proud to be one of the few cancer care hospitals designated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. We therefore play a central role in the region for the treatment of lung diseases.

Our surgical team does not only treat primary and metastatic lung cancers, but other lung conditions such as mediastinal tumours and pneumothorax.

We are able to perform our surgeries assisted by some advanced technologies, such as robot-assisted surgeries and Bronchoscopy virtual 3D lung mapping.

(2) Policy

Offering Optimal Surgical Methods Tailoring to Each Patient

Our surgeons are trained to carefully choose optimal surgical methods in line with the general conditions of each patient.

We aim to provide a high standard of care guided by the best clinical evidence. The surgical plan is usually carefully tailored for each patient and we always try to ensure that the surgery is minimally invasive to the patients wherever possible.

While advanced technologies can be useful when surgeries needed to be performed with accuracy, we recognize that the maximum benefits of the surgery can only be achieved with the participation of our patients in deciding the best mode of treatments.

(3) Our Strengths

Offering a Robot- Assisted Laparoscopic Lobectomy

We have performed robot-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy since September 2018 and the surgeries are fortunately now available under the Japanese National Health insurance since 12/2018.
The robot-assisted surgery involves surgeons performing operations using robotic technology operated by the surgeon’s hands.

The robotic assisted technology enables surgeons to use surgical instruments with more precision, allowing finer and more delicate movements in the operative fields.

One of the advantage of the robot-assisted surgeries is it`s ability to provide more accurate visualization of the operative fields using the 3 dimensional images. The robotic surgery uses special camera that enables 3D imaging of the operative field, instead of conventional methods that uses 2D imaging on screen.

We would thus like to maximize the benefits to the health of our patients by incorporating this new robot- assisted technology in the years to come.

Bronchoscopy Virtual 3D Lung Mapping (VAL-MAP)

The VAL-MAP Bronchoscopy virtual 3D lung mapping uses a spray dye called indigo carmine on the surface of lungs using the bronchoscopy before the surgery. We may mark up to 2 ~ 6 sites simultaneously and this enables surgeons to locate the incision sites more accurately during the operation.

This is especially useful in cases where the lung tumor is small, or located away from the surface of pleura, as this often makes surgery more difficult to accurately locate the resection area. This technique also reduces the risk of patients having an air embolism. The air embolism (air bubbles entering the blood vessels and causing blockage) is more common in more conventional method, where the CT guided needles were used to insert metal markers for locating the tumour instead.

Message for Our Patients

We are actively embracing new technologies in our surgeries in order to minimize the post operative impact for the patients.

We always try to value patient participation and to empower patients to participate in the decision making process.