Toracotomía

The most common approach to the thorax for most interventions performed to treat the lungs, esophagus and thoracic aorta has traditionally been a posterolateral thoracotomy. The prominent position it has enjoyed up until now is due to its being the incision that offers the greatest control over all the elements of the pulmonary hilus, as well as providing a broad perspective of all the thoracic cavity in question. In this article we summarise the basic procedures for performing a standard posterolateral thoracotomy.