During the week before your surgery:

• You may be asked to stop taking drugs that make it hard for your blood to clot. Some of these are aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), vitamin E, warfarin (Coumadin), clopidogrel (Plavix), or ticlopidine (Ticlid).
• Ask your doctor which drugs you should still take on the day of your surgery.
• Prepare your home for your return from the hospital.

On the day of your surgery:

• Do not eat or drink anything after midnight the night before your surgery.
• Take the medications your doctor prescribed with small sips of water.
• Your doctor or nurse will tell you when to arrive at the hospital.

Most people stay in the hospital for 5 to 7 days for open thoracotomy and 1 to 3 days after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. You may spend time in the intensive care unit (ICU) after either surgery.

During your hospital stay, you will:

• Be asked to sit on the side of the bed and walk as soon as possible after surgery
• Have tube(s) coming out of the side of your chest to drain fluids
• Wear special stockings on your feet and legs to prevent blood clots
• Receive shots to prevent blood clots
• Receive pain medicine through an IV (a tube that goes into your veins) or by mouth with pills. You may receive your pain medicine through a special machine that gives you a dose of pain medicine when you push a button. This allows you to control how much pain medicine you get.
• Be asked to do a lot of deep breathing to help prevent pneumonia and infection. Deep breathing exercises also help inflate the lung that was operated on. Your chest tube(s) will remain in place until your lung has fully inflated.

The outcome depends on the type of problem being treated, how much of the lung is removed, and your overall health before surgery.

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Review Date: 05/17/2010
Reviewed By: Shabir Bhimji, MD, PhD, Specializing in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Midland, TX. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)