How is laser therapy performed on lung cancer patients?

How is laser therapy performed on lung cancer patients?

Jay M. Lee (Surgical Director, Thoracic Oncology Program, UCLA) gives expert video advice on: What are other local treatments if I do not want surgery or can't have surgery?; How does chemotherapy cure lung cancer?; How does radiation cure lung cancer? and more...

Laser therapy is utilized in surgery mainly as an outpatient procedure. Some of those patients do need to be admitted to the hospital. We use the laser light to carve out the tumor itself and we remove that lung cancer in the airway itself. This ultimately improves the patient's breathing and most of these patients are able to go home.