Surgery
There are three types of lung cancer surgery:
Lobectomy – where one or more large parts of the lung (called lobes) are removed. Your doctors will suggest this operation if the cancer is just in one section of one lung.
Pneumonectomy – where the entire lung is removed. This is used when the cancer is located in the middle of the lung or has spread throughout the lung.
Wedge resection or segmentectomy – where a small piece of the lung is removed. This procedure is only suitable for a small number of patients as it is only used if your doctors think your cancer is small and limited to one area of the lung. This is usually very early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer.
People are naturally concerned that they will not be able to breathe if some or all of a lung is removed, but it is possible to breathe normally with one lung. However, if you have breathing problems before the operation, such as breathlessness, it is likely that these symptoms will continue after surgery.