Hackensack University Medical Center Now Offering Single-Port Thoracic Surgery

Thoracic surgeons access lungs through a single incision with less nerve trauma and same-day release

Surgeons at Hackensack University Medical Center recently began offering single-port thoracic surgery, which eliminates the need for most incisions between ribs and offers better visualization with nerve-sparing benefits.

Initial single-port robotic surgery cases included a wedge resection and an anterior mediastinal mass removal. Working from bottom to top through the single incision gave the surgeons better phrenic nerve visualization and minimized nerve damage risk. Surgeons instead enter below the entire rib cage, staying outside of the abdominal cavity. They cut through the diaphragm muscle to gain thoracic access.

With elimination of traumatic intercostal muscle incisions, patients should experience less pain. The surgeons hope the decreased nerve trauma will lead to a decrease in the use or even elimination of neuraliga-management medications that carry some potential side effects. It may help to send more patients home the same day as surgery.

When the recent FDA approval of the Intuitive da Vinci SP robot for thoracic procedures went through, Hackensack University Medical Center already had two of the single-port systems on-site for urological procedures. Two thoracic surgeons jumped into training and are now offering lung procedures with significant benefits for patients. The center plans to train the entire thoracic surgery team on the single-port robotic system in the coming months.

“We’re always committed to new technology to help our patients,” said Geoffrey Pelz, M.D., one of the thoracic team’s first surgeons trained on the single-port robot.

Dr. Pelz said he anticipates the team will engage the single-port robot in higher-risk procedures such as segmentectomies and lobectomies, as thoracic-specific tools including a dedicated stapler are brought to market, potentially in the first quarter of 2026.

Learn more about innovative pulmonary and thoracic surgery care at Hackensack University Medical Center.