His clinical interests include all aspects of general thoracic surgery including benign and malignant esophageal disorders, lung cancer, and mediastinal disease. Thanks for having me. That means that I operate on the organs in the chest other than the heart, that is, the lung and the esophagus. My interests are in all aspects of thoracic oncology and all aspects of general thoracic surgery, as well as minimally invasive surgery. I did my training at the University of Toronto and Cleveland Clinic and am now an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Lung cancer has quite a low five-year survival rate.
The stage of the cancer means how extensive is the cancer. For cancers that are picked up early, and that are well localized, they can be effectively treated with good cure rates. The problem is, most people don't present until the cancer is in an advanced stage. In spite of all our treatments, it's difficult to cure people with advanced stage cancer. In the absence of screening, by the time someone becomes symptomatic, that means shortness of breath, coughing up blood, that usually represents an advanced cancer.