Thoracic surgeon Bernard Park discusses how MSK specialists use minimally invasive approaches and robotic-assisted surgery to do complex cancer surgeries many places won’t even attempt using conventional methods.
Show transcript
Dr. Bernard Park:
Being a patient is obviously a very difficult and scary thing. We really try to make sure they understand that they have a lot of support and that we're all on their side. My name is Dr. Bernard Park and I am a thoracic surgical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. When a patient comes to see me in consultation, they have a lot of concerns. Their main concern is whether they're going to get through what they're about to face, in terms of treatment. I really try, first and foremost, to comfort them that we definitely are very experienced here at MSK, and that we have really a team of experts that's gonna really consider their entire situation and come up with the very best plan for them. One of the things we strive to do here at MSK is let patients know that at least 90% of major chest cancer surgery can be done minimally invasively. That will improve their quality of life. It will reduce the surgical trauma. Beyond that, I have a particular expertise in robotic-assisted surgeries, or tele-robotic surgery. And I was really one of the early adopters and innovators of that platform for thoracic surgery. And so if we can do the complex cancer surgery that many places won't even try, even open, and we can do that minimally invasively through robotics, that really, to me, is a win-win situation. There have been a lot of advances in the care of lung cancer that should give people a lot of hope. One of the greatest strengths of MSK is really, from A to Z, top to bottom, we are just fully immersed in cancer care. Everybody really has a singular purpose and they all want to do the best job that they can. Not only are we treating a disease, but we're treating patients and we're treating their families, and I think that's really important to keep in mind.
