Lung Cancer

Mediastinal Tumors

Comprehensive Individualized Mediastinal Tumor Treatment

At NewYork-Presbyterian, we offer cutting-edge, less invasive endoscopic options for diagnosing and treating mediastinal tumors including thymoma and thymic carcinoma. Found in the chest cavity, not all of these tumors are cancerous. Whether you have a mediastinal cyst or a mediastinal tumor, we have the latest and most comprehensive treatments and experts who work together to customize your care to meet your needs.

Your Treatment Team

Your care team includes highly skilled thoracic surgeons, gastroenterologists who specialize in endoscopic procedures, pulmonologists, interventional radiologists, and pathologists who collaborate to provide you with personalized care. You’ll also have access to respiratory therapists to help you breathe more easily. If your tumor is cancerous, our experienced medical oncologists and radiation oncologists design a targeted regimen of care to destroy your tumor.

Individualized Care

Your treatment depends on where your tumor is located and if it is affecting any nearby structures like your heart, airways, or spine. Since tumors in the chest cavity can be caused by several different things — including conditions you may have had since birth, lymphomas, thymic tumors, or neurogenic tumors — we’ll create a treatment plan specific to your tumor and its underlying cause. We have the ability to do biopsies and surgery in ways that hone in on your tumor while sparing nearby healthy tissue.

Advanced Endoscopic Procedures

At NewYork-Presbyterian, we perform fine-needle aspiration biopsy and other chest procedures using endoscopic ultrasound — an ultrasound device located at the tip of an endoscope — to assess your mediastinal tumor. Endoscopy is less invasive than traditional surgery and can help us evaluate the health of your nearby lymph nodes and stage your cancer, providing us with important information to choose the best treatment for you.

Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery

We most often remove mediastinal tumors, cysts, and other lesions through surgery. Our skilled thoracic surgeons use minimally invasive surgical techniques whenever appropriate, resulting in smaller incisions, less discomfort after surgery, and a faster recovery. Our surgeons are highly experienced in the use of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and robotic surgery for removing tumors in the chest.

The Latest Chemotherapy Drugs

Your doctors will let you know if your mediastinal tumor requires treatment with anticancer drugs. You may receive chemotherapy on its own, before radiation therapy, or after surgery, depending on the cause of your tumor. We offer chemotherapy drugs based on the results of the latest medical research.

Immunotherapy

NewYork-Presbyterian is a world leader in cancer care and immunotherapy. We have a robust research program featuring many clinical trials evaluating new immunotherapies and novel ways of combining immunotherapy with other cancer treatments. The only way patients can access these specialized treatments is through these pivotal clinical trials, which are typically found only at academic medical centers such as ours.

Precise Radiation Therapy

People who need radiation to treat a mediastinal tumor benefit from our advanced radiation oncology techniques. We use 3D imaging to shape and target high doses of radiation directly to your tumor, killing cancer cells while sparing nearby healthy tissues and organs such as your heart. You can receive radiation therapy in our state-of-the-art radiation oncology units.

Access to Clinical Trials

Clinical trials have led to every cancer treatment available today. NewYork-Presbyterian's researchers are directing clinical trials evaluating novel treatment approaches. Your treatment team will let you know if you can receive an innovative investigational treatment by participating in a clinical trial.