A narrowed trachea is a serious problem, the trachea is the only tube that brings air to the lungs. As soon as it closes, one suffocates. “Many times patients are treated for asthma and have a narrowing of the trachea,” Professor Miroslav Janík, head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the Slovak Medical University (SZU) and University Hospital Bratislava (UNB), stated in the TASR TV program Zdravie.
Thoracic surgery according to the doctor solves a wide range of diagnoses of the respiratory tract and lungs, diseases of the chest wall, chest, diaphragm, mediastinum, esophagus and various malignant and benign tumors, which may be located in this area of the body. “For example, a narrowed trachea we can operate with relatively good results,he stated.
In cancerous tumors, according to him the surgeon selects the affected part of the lung. “The most common is the lung lobe, of which a person has five. We have three on the right and two on the left,” zoomed in. Before such serious interventions, the patient must first be examined to see if he will be able to undergo the operation at all. “Many times we find that the patient’s lungs are damaged in such a way that if one lung wing were removed, he would not be able to function,” he said, adding that in such cases they have to abandon the operation.
On the other hand, he pointed out that among the patients there are also those who after resection of a lung wing they can return to an almost full-fledged life and some can even engage in sports, for example cycling.
The ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) program helps patients recover, in which they prepare both for the procedure itself and for rehabilitation after it. “Some patients, for example, have coughing exercises with rehabilitation workers before surgery so that they can cough up enough after the procedure,” zoomed in.
The surgeon considers the patient’s obesity to be the most risk factor before the operation. “Obese patients find it much more difficult to breathe after surgery. It does not have to be lung surgery, it can also be a simple abdominal operation“, evaluated Janík.
On the operating tables of lung surgeons, they also reach people after car accidents, accidents or gunshot wounds. “Many times, patients also come to us through other specialties because they encounter a problem that needs to be solved surgically,” he concluded.
