We are leaders in cancer research, collaborating with you to determine the best treatment plan – one that’s right for you.

Lung cancer patients receive care from our Thoracic Oncology Program. This could include surgery and additional treatments like:

• Access to innovative treatments and research at the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute 
• Clinical trials
• Genetic counseling and testing
• Genomics services that personalize your care using DNA and gene sequencing
• Immunotherapy treatments
• Minimally invasive surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Systemic therapies, including chemotherapies, targeted therapies, hormonal therapies and immunotherapies

Compared to traditional surgery, minimally invasive surgery has many benefits, including:

• Faster recovery
• Greater precision with video-assisted visualization
• Less post-operative discomfort
• Lower need for pain relievers after surgery
• Reduced risk of complications, like infection
• Shorter hospital stays
• Smaller, less noticeable scars

If you have early-stage lung cancer, minimally invasive surgery is the preferred treatment. Lung resection surgery – the removal of a lung or its diseased portion – can be performed with minimally invasive techniques. These include:

• Robotic-assisted surgery
• Thoracoscopy, or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS)
• Thoracotomy, an open incision

VATS allows surgeons to make smaller incisions and avoid spreading the ribs, as required in traditional surgery. A tiny video camera called a thoracoscope is threaded through an incision to view the lung on a screen and precisely maneuver surgical instruments.

Robotic-assisted surgery, similar to VATS, uses smaller incisions that eliminate the need for open-chest surgery, typical for traditional thoracic surgery. This technique is designed to extend a surgeon’s capabilities by using tiny instruments that mimic hand and wrist movements, and by giving the surgeon a magnified, 3D view inside the body.

Providence is among Oregon’s few institutions with surgeons trained on multiple robotic platforms, including the da Vinci Xi and the single-port (SP) system at both Providence Cancer Institute Franz Thoracic Surgery in East Portland and Providence Thoracic Surgery – West. This expertise lets us select the best tool for each patient and offer minimally invasive options, even for complex chest conditions.

At Providence, we offer both robotic-assisted bronchoscopy and robotic-assisted surgery under one program. We’re recognized as one of Oregon’s few facilities to provide this advanced technology, so select patients can undergo same-day biopsy and, when appropriate, treatment. This helps patients move from diagnosis to care as quickly and safely as possible.

Our multi-platform robotic capabilities set us apart in the Portland region, allowing us to tailor care for even the most complex cases.