Kaweah Health Performs 1st Robotic Lung Cancer Surgery
June 15, 2026
Kaweah Health’s Dr. Trung Ly Tran performed the hospital’s first robotic lung cancer surgery on Thursday, June 11. Using the hospital’s da Vinci® Xi robot, he was able to remove cancerous growths from the lungs through four small incisions.
Because the surgery requires a highly trained cardiothoracic surgeon like Dr. Tran, Kaweah Health is one of a few hospitals able to offer this procedure in the Central Valley. Dr. Tran, who joined the cardiothoracic program in April, is helping to expand Kaweah Health’s lung cancer program.
Dr. Tran explained robotic surgery has many benefits, including less blood loss, lower risk of wound infection, reduced pain after surgery, minimal scaring, faster recover, and shorter hospital stays.
This surgery is possible when lung cancer is caught early and has not spread.
“Surgery can be the cure in those cases,” Dr. Tran said.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the US, but it’s highly treatable when detected early.
Kaweah Health began a comprehensive lung cancer screening program featuring a low-dose CT scan to look for early signs of lung cancer. It is a quick, painless scan that can detect small lung nodules or abnormalities years before they appear on an X-ray.
If a biopsy is needed, an Ion Robotic Bronchoscopy is used, which is a robot system that helps to navigate the bronchoscope precisely to the lung nodules that are small or hard to reach. With Ion Robotic Bronchoscopy, the diagnoses can be made quicker and help the patients move forward with treatment sooner. Early detection of lung cancer significantly improves treatment outcomes and survival rates.
If surgery is needed, Dr. Tran uses the da Vinci to remove cancer from the lungs.
“We saw the need in our community for faster lung cancer diagnosis as patients were having to wait months to be seen in other communities,” said Jag Batth, Kaweah Health chief operating officer. “Having Dr. Tran and the ability to do this complex procedure is life saving for our community.”
For more information on Kaweah Health’s lung cancer screening program, visit KaweahHealth.org/Lung.
