Center for Thoracic Cancers

In addition to our expert clinicians, you’ll comprehensive care that supports the physical, emotional, and psychological challenges that may come with experiencing cancer. You’ll also benefit from the attention of our care coordinators, who make managing even the most detailed treatment plan less complicated for you.

Our team is active in clinical research, focusing on advancing care in areas of thoracic oncology where the standard treatment needs improvement or the optimal treatment isn’t yet clear. To provide the best possible care, most of our patients participate in clinical trials, giving them access to innovative therapies for advanced disease, including immunotherapy.

Our medical oncologists are nationally recognized for their leadership and expertise in lung cancer treatment and research, and they’re dedicated to offering you personalized treatment options. For example, biomarker testing is often performed on a tumor to look for specific mutations that can be targeted by medication. FDA-approved lung cancer treatments are currently available for tumors showing abnormalities in the EGFR, KRAS, ALK, ROS1, BRAF V600E, MET, RET, and NTRK genes.

Recent studies conducted by our doctors have led to FDA approval of new lung cancer drugs, including the immunotherapy drug Tecentriq (atezolizumab), which has improved survival for people who are newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This drug works by blocking PD-L1, a protein discovered by scientists at Yale and that has been instrumental in improving survival rates for people with lung cancer.

Another FDA-approved drug, osimertinib, which stemmed from research at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital, was approved to treat adults who have early-stage NSCLC with EGFR gene mutations.

Our experts recommend a minimally invasive procedure called video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). It’s performed through several small incisions—rather than one large chest incision. Most people who have chest surgery at Smilow Cancer Hospital are scheduled for a VATS procedure, which is only available at a small number of hospitals in the U.S.

The da Vinci Robotic System is also available, offering you a less invasive surgical option, a quicker recovery time, and fewer side effects. Our thoracic surgeons are experienced with this technology and use it to perform lobectomies to treat lung cancer. Together, they perform the most robotic lung procedures in Connecticut. Smilow Cancer Hospital’s robotic technology, the da Vinci Xi, is the most advanced robotic platform available.

The Center for Thoracic Cancers gives you access to highly advanced radiation therapy treatment planning. One noninvasive technique, stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), delivers high doses of radiation precisely to lung cancer tumors, resulting in less radiation delivered to surrounding tissue and fewer side effects.

Radiosurgery is available to some patients who are unable to—or would prefer not to—have surgery. Radiation treatment is available to our patients at Smilow Cancer Hospital and at our other outpatient locations.

Our pulmonary medicine experts provide seamless care, from lung cancer screening and diagnosis through survivorship and are nationally and internationally recognized for providing advanced patient care. The Pulmonary Intervention Program (PIP) is a joint program between pulmonary and critical care medicine doctors and thoracic surgeons at Smilow Cancer Hospital. This collaboration combines advanced, state-of-the-art technology with physicians dedicated to your evaluation and treatment.

Highlights of the program include the following:

• Peripheral endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS): Smilow Cancer Hospital is one of only a few hospitals in the state with this technology, which improves diagnostic sensitivity for lung nodules, masses, or infiltrates compared to bronchoscopy without ultrasound guidance. Our physicians have the most experience in the state with EBUS and provide the greatest diagnostic accuracy possible.
• Electromagnetic navigation: An innovative procedure that uses electromagnetic technology to allow better access for tissue samples of lung masses. Smilow Cancer Hospital is the only hospital in Connecticut offering this “GPS-like” bronchoscopic guidance through the lungs to nodules or masses that need of diagnosis.
• Confocal microscopy: Our physicians are among the first in the world to use and research this endomicroscopic system, which aloows visualization of microscopic cells in the lung.
• Whole lung lavage: PIP physicians are trained to treat patients with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) through this and other techniques.

Our team at the Smilow Interventional Oncology Program offers minimally invasive image-guided therapies either as primary or additional treatments. The program complements medical, surgical, and radiation oncology to help provide you with optimal care.

In partnership with the Yale Thoracic Pathology Service, our team carefully reviews tissue obtained from the thorax, including lungs, trachea, and chest wall. The includes evaluating features related to tumor immunotherapy, such as PD-L1 expression levels. Our team members have extensive experience diagnosing and classifying the full range of lung disease histopathology, which is vital to making an accurate diagnosis that ultimately guides treatment planning.

In this highly specialized field, our pathology team utilizes state-of- the-art techniques and approaches to provide diagnostic and prognostic pathology reports that are critical to your care. Characteristic mutations can be used as markers to detect very small numbers of tumor cells, increasing the sensitivity and accuracy of your diagnosis.

Our internationally recognized team of pulmonologists, chest radiologists, thoracic surgeons and oncologists and tobacco treatment specialistswork together to provide lung cancer screening for people who may be at risk for lung cancer. Learn more.

We offer second opinions that are easy, convenient, and completely remote. Please call 203-200-5864 to schedule a second opinion appointment with one of our providers or to learn more.

Smilow Cancer Hospital places great emphasis on taking care of all your needs—pairing the best available medical care with a network of support services. Advanced practice nurses with specialized knowledge in treating esophageal and lung cancers are available to support you throughout your treatment journey. You and your family also have access to social workers, who provide psychosocial support during treatment. Specialized support groups for people with lung cancer are also available.

Additional resources for you and your family include nutritional counseling, physical therapy, art therapy, and pastoral support. The Smilow Cancer Hospital Multidisciplinary Pain Program, in collaboration with other services such as palliative care, provides integrative pain medicine for people experiencing pain from cancer treatments—including radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery—as well as and pain by cancer itself.