Our surgeons have experience in tracheal surgery for tracheal tumors and strictures, as well as lung preserving surgery or “sleeve lobectomy” for tumors of the distal airway or bronchi (“wind pipes”). In addition, we offer interventional bronchoscopy, which includes the placement of endobronchial stents that are placed fiberoptically with flexible or rigid high definition cameras (bronchoscopes) to alleviate airway obstruction.
In regards to airway cancer surgery, our surgeons and care providers work as a team in multidisciplinary collaboration as a part of the National Cancer Institute Designated UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, which employs a multidisciplinary approach, providing expert opinions from thoracic surgery, pulmonology, radiation oncology, diagnostic radiology, and medical oncology to best fight our patients’ cancers. Our patients may be eligible for UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center clinical trials that offer cutting edge and state of the art therapies. Many of these clinical trials offer “personalized medicine” where molecular defects found in the tumors undergo specific “targeted therapy”.
Our surgeons, along with researchers from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center collaborate with JAX West, A UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center research partner. Through this innovative and ground breaking partnership, tumors are engrafted into specialized mice, creating a “co-clinical” approach that allows our scientists to safely test novel and potentially life-saving new cancer drugs, at no risk to patients.
