Thoracic Surgery

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines that determine which smokers qualify for CT scans are excluding significant numbers of African Americans who develop lung cancer, a health disparity that merits modifications to lung cancer screening criteria, according to a study from Vanderbilt researchers. Read More

The thoracic surgery team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently added a new tool to its collection of minimally invasive techniques to provide patients the most advanced robotic-assisted surgical procedures. Read More

Collaboration between a mechanical engineer at Vanderbilt University and a pulmonologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has resulted in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant that will be used to develop a steerable robotic needle to safely biopsy hard-to-reach lung nodules. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have conducted a first-of-its-kind genome-wide association study of lung cancer survival in African-Americans. Read More

Joe B. (Bill) Putnam Jr., M.D., Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and chair of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, and colleague Felix Fernandez, M.D., assistant professor of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, have received a grant to investigate the most effective forms of surgery to treat lung cancer patients. Read More

James L. Cox UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Rollin A. Daniel Jr. M.D. Lecture scheduled for Nov. 22 has been canceled. It will be rescheduled for a later date. Pioneering cardiothoracic surgeon James L. Cox will speak on the history and future of atrial fibrillation therapies at 7 a.m. Friday,… Read More

Smoking is more detrimental to lung function in individuals with high proportions of African ancestry. Read More

Even when lung operations for suspected cancer resection results in a benign diagnosis, there still may be significant benefits to the procedure, new research suggests. Read More