What to expect from lung lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer

Lobectomy removes the affected lobe while preserving the other parts of the lung. The surgeon may use keyhole surgery or an open approach. Lymph nodes near the lung and airway may be sampled to establish whether cancer has spread locally. A chest drain is placed temporarily to remove air and fluid. The specimen is examined for tumour features, margins and lymph-node findings.

Those results, together with scans and your overall health, guide discussions about chemotherapy, targeted treatment, immunotherapy or observation after surgery. Not every person needs the same next step.

Share your medicines, allergies, breathing symptoms and smoking history with the surgical team. Ask about prehabilitation or breathing practice if offered. After surgery, expect pain control, assisted coughing, walking and exercises that expand the remaining lung. At home, increase activity gradually, avoid strenuous lifting until advised, care for the incision and keep the pathology appointment.

Report fever, new or spreading redness, drainage, wound separation, worsening chest pain or increasing breathlessness. Emergency assessment is needed for severe breathing difficulty, chest pain, coughing blood, confusion, blue lips or collapse.

Ask how the cancer stage affects surgery, whether lymph nodes will be sampled, which approach is planned, how pain and breathlessness will be managed, when the molecular and pathology findings will be reviewed and what adjuvant treatment may follow.