Chest and Lung Surgery for Teenagers and Young Adults
Keyhole surgery in London — and the right setting for your age

• Young people need chest surgery too. Most often for a collapsed lung, chest symptoms that return with each period, excessive sweating, or a condition present from birth or childhood.
• Where a young person is treated depends on age. Over-18s privately at London Bridge Hospital or The Lister Hospital Chelsea; under-18s privately at The Portland Hospital; younger or more complex patients jointly with Evelina London.
• Care is built around the age group, not adapted from adult practice. Dr Okiror trained in both paediatric cardiothoracic and adult thoracic surgery and treats young people by keyhole surgery.
• Conditions that began in childhood often need review again. The move from children's to adult care can be difficult, and bridging that gap is the focus of this service.
• A second opinion is welcome. Including for families told nothing more can be done, or unsure about a plan. It clarifies what is possible — it does not promise a different answer.

The first question with a young person is not which operation — it is where they should be treated, and by whom. A 17-year-old with a collapsed lung does not belong in a service built around lung cancer in older patients; an unwell 14-year-old usually belongs in a children’s hospital. Getting that judgement right matters as much as the surgery itself.

Many chest conditions in this age group are present from birth or childhood. There is a point at which a children’s hospital can no longer care for a young person, while adult services are not always set up to take over smoothly — and the move between the two can leave families in a gap. Dr Okiror trained in both paediatric cardiothoracic surgery and adult thoracic surgery, an uncommon combination among adult chest surgeons, and works with the paediatric team at Evelina London and with congenital-heart (ACHD) colleagues. That is what allows a young person to be placed in the right setting from the outset, rather than treated wherever they happen to land.

A second opinion is welcome, and is one of the most common reasons families and other doctors get in touch. It is often the right step when a young person has been told that surgery is not possible, when the move from children’s to adult services has stalled, or when there is simply more than one reasonable option and a family wants to understand them before deciding.

Dr Okiror reviews the imaging and history personally and gives a clear, honest view of what is and is not possible in a young person’s particular situation. A second opinion clarifies the options; it does not promise a different answer, and where the existing plan is the right one, he will say so. Referrals from other clinicians for an independent view are equally welcome.

Young people are not simply smaller adults, and the things that matter to them — getting back to school, exams, sport, university, and the experience of being in hospital — are not afterthoughts. Dr Okiror’s combined training in paediatric cardiothoracic and adult thoracic surgery, and his ongoing work with the paediatric team at Evelina London, mean a teenager or young adult is assessed with their age firmly in mind and treated in the setting that suits them.

This matters most for young people whose condition began in childhood and who are moving from children’s to adult care — a transition he is used to managing alongside paediatric and congenital-heart colleagues. Care is coordinated with the neurology, respiratory, gynaecology or other teams already involved, rather than delivered in isolation.

Disclosures

This page is general patient and family information, not medical advice for any individual. Dr Lawrence Okiror is a Consultant Thoracic and Robotic Surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, with private practising privileges at London Bridge Hospital and The Lister Hospital Chelsea. He trained in paediatric cardiothoracic surgery and works with the paediatric team at Evelina London for younger and more complex patients; private treatment of under-18s takes place at The Portland Hospital and is arranged individually for each patient. He has no commercial relationships relevant to this content. Decisions about whether surgery is appropriate, and where it should take place, should be made on a case-by-case basis after appropriate clinical assessment.