When Lung Disease Strikes,
Fighting Back Requires Expert Medical Care
Taine Pechet, MD
December 2004
Think about it: Each time you breathe, your lungs
are exposed to all kinds of pollution, cigarette
smoke or any other microscopic particles that
happen to be floating in the air at the moment.
Although they are an extraordinarily resilient
organ, the lungs are not immune to disease; in
fact, lung cancer has become one of the most common
and deadliest cancers in this country.
To fight lung cancer and other serious illnesses
of the lungs or chest, there is no doubt that
patients need the most sophisticated treatments
currently available.
At Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, our team of nationally-
renowned thoracic surgeons use innovative approaches
to treat a variety of conditions of the lungs,
esophagus and chest, including cancer, gastroesophageal
reflux disease and hiatal hernia. With an emphasis
on minimally invasive techniques and a commitment
to researching conditions for which no effective
solution currently exists, our thoracic team is
considered a leader in the field.
There are several key elements that make our
surgical services outstanding:
- Our state-of-the-art, minimally
invasive operating room is one of only a
few in the United States that is equipped with
high-definition video. If you have ever watched
high-definition TV, you can literally see the
difference an extremely sharp image makes, and
that type of clarity is heightened in the operating
room.
During a minimally invasive thoracic surgery,
four flat panel screens descend from our OR
ceiling to display internal images captured
by a tiny, angled camera that has been inserted
through a small incision in a patient’s
chest. The crisp internal images that appear
on the high-definition videos provide us with
an enhanced view of a patient’s anatomy,
which is extremely vital when we perform delicate,
minimally invasive surgical tasks on you or
someone you love. Because lung tissues are multi-layered
and absorbent like a sponge, the high-definition
video and other specialized equipment help us
to locate microscopic components buried within
the organ and to dissect diseased sections of
the lung.
- Our
team works closely with the medical hardware
and software industry to develop cutting-edge
thoracic instrumentation and technology. This
unique relationship allows us to stay on the
forefront of scientific advances and, in fact,
contribute to the creation of groundbreaking
thoracic surgical methods and trends.
- We recently opened a Thoracic
Intermediate Care Unit (TICU), one of only
a handful in the nation and the only one of
its kind in the Philadelphia region. Studies
show that post-surgery thoracic patients greatly
benefit from specialized care, and our TICU
is thoughtfully designed to promote healing
and ambulation in a timely manner. The TICU
is staffed by experienced nurses, respiratory
therapists and physical therapists that are
specialists in critical care and features a
“mini-gym” stocked with walkers,
treadmills and exercise bicycles to help thoracic
patients resume normal activities after surgery.
- In addition to diseases or cancers affecting
the lungs, esophagus and chest, we also treat
illnesses such as hyperhidrosis, a condition
that causes excessive sweating and, in some
cases, drastically limits a person’s ability
to work or socialize. By cutting the sympathetic
nerve in the chest during a minimally invasive
procedure, we can instantaneously stop the severe
sweating and help patients promptly resume a
normal lifestyle.
The lung is a durable organ, but when thoracic
disease strikes, the best way to fight back is
with a team of experienced professionals who are
recognized as national leaders in the field of
thoracic medicine.
At Presbyterian, our goal is to provide seriously
ill patients with the most advanced thoracic treatments
currently available in America and to pioneer
groundbreaking research that may some day produce
new avenues for cure.
 Taine
T.V. Pechet, MD, is Vice Chief, Department
of Surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr.
Pechet is board certified in both general surgery
and thoracic surgery.
|
