Outstanding care, always.

Clinical
The Thoracic Surgery service provides secondary through tertiary level surgical care on an inpatient and outpatient basis for the population of Southeastern Ontario, treating patients with conditions of the lungs, esophagus, chest wall, airway and mediastinum. This surgical division provides 24-hour seven days per week coverage for emergency and inpatient service needs, and often collaborates with other surgical services such as Cardiac and General Surgery, and medical services such as Respirology and Oncology in the provision of care. It does not provide transplantation or lung volume reduction surgery. In addition to surgical interventions, a clinic is held at KGH two to three times per week where consultations for new patients and follow-ups for existing patients are regularly scheduled, with urgent cases scheduled as needed.

In addition to medicine, care is provided by a multidisciplinary team on a seven-bed inpatient service and a shared step-down unit on Kidd 4. Thoracic Surgery also provides support for the care of patients in emergency services. There is currently one full time physician and another physician whose services are shared with the Division of Cardiac Surgery. Emergency coverage includes collaborating with other services to provide trauma services for the Trauma Program, and more. Thoracic Surgery has an interdependent relationship with various services within Medicine, and is highly integrated with the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario at Kingston General Hospital, as many patients are treated by both surgery and oncology at the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario. They also rely on the services provided by clinical lab, diagnostic imaging, physiotherapy, occupational therapy pharmacy, intensive care, OR and PACU, palliative care, clinical nutrition, social work, respiratory therapy, anesthesia and acute pain management to provide patient care.

Thoracic surgery is a significant provider of surgical services in the region. There is one thoracic surgeon in Peterborough, however, the next major centre is in Ottawa.

Research
Locally, the Division of Thoracic Surgery is involved in both clinical and basic science research through collaboration with basic scientists in the Departments of Anatomy and Toxicology. In addition, the Division takes part in relevant national and international multi-centre trials.