Centre for Thoracic Surgery

Thoracic surgery deals with all the organs in the chest cavity except for the heart. Thoracic surgery primarily focuses on lung surgery.

Other surgery in the chest area may be required, including the thymus gland, the chest wall itself, chest trauma, rib fractures and tumours. 

Treatment options

Thoracic surgery comprises diagnosis, indication, conservative and surgical treatment of surgical diseases, injuries and malformations of the lungs, pleura, diaphragm, tracheobronchial system, mediastinal organs and the thoracic wall.

This includes in particular:

  • lung cancer surgery and complex resections at locally advanced stages (mesothelioma)
  • thymus surgery and treatment of mediastinal tumours
  • minimally invasive surgery: video-assisted thorascopic lobectomy (VATS lobectomy) and robot-assisted thoracoscopy (RATS)
  • emphysema surgery (first thoracoscopic LVRS – Lung Volume Reduction Surgery – worldwide)
  • pleural changes

Our centre

Thoraxchirurgie-Praxis

 

Dr Walter Weder is the resident thoracic surgeon at Privatklinik Bethanien. He is a world-renowned thoracic surgeon, who became the first surgeon in Switzerland to perform a lung transplant in 1992. He succeeded in solving the problem of sewing the airways together. At the time, almost 10 % of patients had complications or died because the suture did not hold. Through his research, Dr Weder developed a different technique.

His first VATS lobectomy followed in 1993, and in 1995 he performed the world’s first minimally invasive volume reduction surgery for emphysema. This lung disease is very common in heavy smokers. The lungs of these patients are too large and lose elasticity, making it difficult to inhale and exhale. Many years ago, Dr Weder developed a technique to reduce the lung to its normal size. This is one of his core specialisms and one of the reasons why he treats patients from all over the world. He also specialises in surgery to treat lung cancer or other malignancies in the chest. 

Dr Weder has published several studies on advanced resection in lung cancer. In 2004, he performed the first mediastinal tumour resection and lobectomy with the Da Vinci® robot. This is a method that allows the surgeon to perform very precise surgery on the lungs or other organs in the chest in a three-dimensional view using small incisions.

Doctors at this centre

Privatklinik Bethanien

Prof. Dr. med. Walter Weder

Specialisation
Thoracic surgery, General surgery, Da Vinci

Our team of experts for Da Vinci® robot procedures

The Da Vinci® Bethanien team is led by visceral surgeon Dr Daniel Christen, Medical Director and Chief Surgeon at Privatklinik Bethanien, and his colleagues from surgical urology, Dr Michael Kurz and Dr Guido Tenti, as well as from thoracic surgery, Dr Walter Weder. The four specialists in minimally invasive surgery have many years of experience with the Da Vinci® robot and are a well-coordinated team.

For more information

Specialist field of thoracic surgery