Thoracic Surgeons on the Lung Cancer Team with Dr. David Tom Cooke

David Tom Cooke, MD, Founding Chief of the Division of General Thoracic Surgery at UC Davis, joins the first episode of 2023 to discuss his colleague’s specific role in lung cancer screening and intervention, advances to minimally invasive, robotic and bronchoscopic techniques, and evolving strategies in individualized patient care.

Episode Highlights
0:14 Intro
1:52 Introducing David T. Cooke, MD
3:23 The role of thoracic surgeons in improving lung cancer screening rates
6:22 Shared decision making in thoracic surgery
8:16 Lobar, wedge resection or segmentectomy? Plus, robotic techniques?
12:22 PET/CT scans in the staging process
13:52 The surgeon approach to stage IV lung cancer
16:02 Patient follow-up—improved mortality and longer life expectancy
18:50 Prioritizing surgery and neoadjuvant therapy regimens
20:48 Thoracic surgeon role in palliative care
22:57 What’s on the horizon in the field: robotic surgery
24:17 Outro

Check out other lung cancer episodes of Lungcast: