Comprehensive thoracic surgery for a variety of chest disorders
At Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple our team of highly experienced thoracic surgeons and healthcare providers treat a variety of chest disorders, including benign and malignant conditions.
All our surgeons are board-certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and have had years of training and experience.
Our system provides innovative care and technology, including minimally invasive techniques, such as:
- Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS)
- Laparoscopic surgery
- Mediastinoscopy
- Endoscopy
- Robotic surgery
Our thoracic surgery program in Temple, Texas, serves central Texas, allowing easy access for patients from College Station, Round Rock, Waco, Killeen, Marble Falls and other associated areas.
- Lung cancer
- Lung nodules
- Pancoast tumor (superior sulcus)
- Emphysema
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Lung failure
- Esophageal cancer
- Esophageal tumors
- Benign esophageal diseases
- Paraesophageal (hiatal) hernias
- GERD requiring fundoplication
- Esophageal stenosis
- Achalasia
- Zenker’s diverticulum
- Epiphrenic diverticulum
- Tracheal cancer
- Tracheal stenosis
- Tracheal tumors
- Paralyzed diaphragm
- Diaphragm eventration
- Pectus deformities
- Chest wall cancers or malignancies
- Chest wall tumors
- Chest wall defects requiring reconstruction
- Rib fractures requiring rib plating
- Mesothelioma
- Malignancy
- Infection
- Mediastinal tumors
- Neurogenic tumors
- Thymic cancers
- Thymomas
- Thymic cysts
- Myasthenia gravis
- Mediastinal cysts
- Neurogenic
- Venous or arterial
Thoracic procedures and treatment options
- Flexible bronchoscopy
- Rigid bronchoscopy
- Bronchial balloon dilation/stent
- Esophageal balloon dilation/stent
- EGD
- Cervical mediastinoscopy
- Thoracotomy
- Pulmonary decortication
- Lobectomy
- Pneumonectomy
- Video-assisted thoracoscopy surgery (VATS)
- Video assisted thoracotomy
- Robotic surgery
- Minimally invasive surgery
- Minimally invasive thymectomy
- Minimally invasive esophagectomy
- Thymectomy
- VATS thymectomy
- Rib resection
- Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy
- VATS pleural biopsy
- VATS pleural drainage
- Pleurectomy
- Extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP)
- Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS)
- Tracheal resection and reconstruction
- PEG
- Tracheostomy
- Minimally invasive Nissen fundoplication
- Minimally invasive esophageal myotomy
- Esophageal repair
- Minimally invasive PEH repair
- VATS diaphragm plication repair
- Esophageal diverticular repair/Resection
- Minimally invasive pectus repair VATS (Nuss Bar and Ravitch)
What to expect
While our team approach is centered on the patient, we work closely with the patient’s other physicians in a multidisciplinary fashion.
We collaborate with the referring physicians, as well as the other subspecialties to provide complete comprehensive care, from diagnosis to treatment, through recovery and beyond.
Our thoracic surgery team here in Temple is always focused on compassionate care and treating the patient like a family member. We also maintain a firm commitment to provide the highest level of care to our patients and to obtain the highest quality outcomes.
Our team provides limitless access to our physicians before and after surgery. This access allows for plentiful information for the patient about the disease process. It also allows for navigation though diagnosis, through surgery, and through post-hospital recovery.
We believe this grand team effort provides the means to ensuring high quality outcomes, such as faster recovery, less overall pain, decreased length of hospital stay, and fewer complications.
Our thoracic surgery team
All thoracic surgical patients are cared for from the preoperative visit through the hospitalization and the post-discharge follow-up by a dedicated staff who report directly to the surgical faculty and who are charged with keeping patients and their families completely informed of the patient’s progress and long term follow up with their respective primary medical doctors. This dedicated thoracic surgery team in Temple includes:
- Coordinators
- Physician assistants
- Nurse practitioners
- Nurse navigators
- Physician assistants
- Nurses
- Surgeons
- Pulmonologists
- Critical care intensivists
- Radiologists
- Anesthesiologists
- Operating room team staff members
- Social worker
Why choose Baylor Scott & White - Temple
Baylor Scott & White – Temple is a 640-bed major teaching and referral center for critical surgical diseases. It has a long tradition of excellence not only from its physician faculty but also from the ancillary and nursing staff.
Thoracic surgery is a team endeavor with staff from several disciplines interacting to provide optimal care for the patient.
Our physicians collaborate across disciplines and have established open lines of communication between the surgeons, pulmonologists, anesthesiologists, intensivists, nurses, other ancillary staff and hospital administration such that they collectively form the surgical team.