Our Thoracic Surgery Services
We offer a premier service in the field of thoracic surgery.
We treat all thoracic conditions and perform the full range of thoracic procedures except lung transplant, which is usually performed in large university hospitals.
We treat all benign and malignant thoracic and pulmonary conditions, including lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma, benign and malignant pleural effusions as well as mediastinal tumors. We work together with pulmonologists, specialists in nuclear medicine, radiologists and interventional radiologists, anesthesiologists and specialists in intensive care medicine, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists and specialists in pain management and palliative care. We also have a team of experienced nurses, healthcare assistants, physiotherapists and nutritionists supporting us every day.
We have state of the art diagnostic facilities on site including chest CT, MRI and PET scanning. We offer a rapid service (rapid-access chest CT and same-day appointment) to patients with suspected lung cancer or thoracic symptoms i.e. persistent cough, chest pain, increasing breathlessness, hoarse voice, hemoptysis (coughing blood). We have a dedicated endoscopy suite where we perform flexible bronchoscopies and biopsies. Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) and endobronchial navigation biopsies are performed by our colleagues pulmonologists. Ultrasound or CT-guided biopsies of lung nodules or thoracic tumors are performed by our colleagues interventional radiologists, who also offer radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or cryoablation of lung or thoracic tumors.
We have a weekly tumor board meeting where all specialists discuss every case of cancer referred to us. This is to offer for each patient a 360° vision and the best possible treatment options. When surgery is not an upfront option, we discuss with our team of specialized thoracic oncologists who can offer systemic chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy or more complex personalized therapies. Our team of radiation oncologists use the most up to date technology in their field. They can offer conventional radiotherapy, tomotherapy and IMRT (Radixact®) and they use the Cyberkife® for stereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT). We use tumor markers, advanced genomics and ctDNA technology to characterize tumors and get precise diagnoses and prognosis. We can offer a full diagnostic pathway and staging for all types of thoracic tumors.
We always try to offer the less invasive approach to a medical problem and we believe in shared decision making with our patients. We offer conventional thoracic surgery through cervicotomy, thoracotomy or sternotomy whenever necessary. We offer single-port or multiple-port videothoracoscopy (VATS) whenever possible. We also offer thoracoscopy under local anesthetics and sedation for day-procedures and we offer mediastinoscopy, as well. We offer robotic thoracic surgery for difficult cases or when we believe the robotic approach will result in a better outcome. We offer flexible and rigid bronchoscopy as well as insertion of tracheal or bronchial stents for benign or malignant conditions. We can offer personalised 3D-printed stents to treat complex tracheal or bronchial problems.
We work closely together as we believe in a team approach. We see all our patients every day and are available 24/7. We often operate together on difficult or complex cases. We discuss each patient’s case daily and review individual imaging and blood test results every day with our other specialists in our team. We have a specialist in infectious diseases advising us on demand when complex antibiotic therapy is required. We have numerous other specialists at the Clinique de Genolier or at Clinique Generale Beaulieu who can assist us on demand (neurosurgeons, urologists, hepato-biliary and upper GI surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, ENT surgeons, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, …).
