Dr Lawrence Okiror sees patients from outside the United Kingdom. Scans and reports are reviewed personally, followed by a video consultation. Imaging can establish what an abnormality may represent and whether an operation is technically possible. Whether you are fit for that operation needs tests and examination in person. Everything that can be settled at a distance is settled first, and the case is taken to a multidisciplinary team meeting, so you know whether travelling is worthwhile before you go. Treatment takes place in London. Follow-up afterwards is by video, with imaging arranged locally and reviewed here.
Last reviewed: August 2026 · Dr Lawrence Okiror FRCS(CTh) FRCSEd(CTh) · GMC 6150382
Your imaging is reviewed personally and a video consultation held before anything is arranged. Nobody should be booking flights to find out whether an operation is possible.
Cancer and severe COPD cases are discussed at a multidisciplinary team meeting before travel is arranged — so the recommendation you act on is not one surgeon’s view alone.
Where the clinical circumstances allow, diagnosis and resection are completed under a single anaesthetic — turning a sequence of visits into one admission.
No, and that is the purpose of the initial consultation.
Your imaging is reviewed before you speak to anyone. You then have a video consultation, and where surgery may be appropriate the case is taken to a multidisciplinary team meeting. Only then are you asked to decide whether to travel — with a recommendation, an expected length of stay, and a written quotation in hand.
Nobody should be booking flights to find out whether an operation is possible.
This is worth understanding, because it explains why the process works the way it does.
What the abnormality may represent, what the imaging suggests about the stage, whether an operation is technically possible, and what the reasonable treatment options are. Dr Okiror reviews the scans himself, and none of that requires you to be in the same country.
Whether you are fit to undergo that operation. Breathing tests, exercise testing and physical examination need you to be present. An operation being technically possible, and it being the right operation for a particular person, are two different questions — and the second one sometimes cannot be closed until you are here. This is set out in full on the fitness for lung surgery page.
So the pathway is arranged around that division. The questions that can be answered at a distance are answered first, before anyone books a flight. You travel for the part that genuinely requires you to be here — and where anything remains to be confirmed on arrival, you are told what it is beforehand.
The same principle applies. An overseas biopsy result is not automatically taken as final. Dr Okiror reviews the imaging and any available pathology, and sometimes the diagnosis needs to be confirmed or reconsidered before a treatment decision can safely be made.
Where it would materially change the treatment decision, your slides or tissue blocks can be reviewed by a specialist thoracic pathology team in London. This is requested through your own pathology department rather than around it, so that the material is properly tracked and enough tissue remains available locally for any further testing you may need. Jo will confirm the cost and what is involved before anything is sent.
You may go through the whole assessment and be advised that an operation is not the right course. That is a legitimate and reasonably common outcome, and it is worth saying so plainly on a page like this one.
Sometimes the answer is that the treatment being proposed at home is already correct, and the value of the consultation is confirming it. Sometimes it is that a different treatment — not surgery — is the better option. Sometimes it is that what you need is available closer to home, and travelling would gain you nothing.
The purpose of the assessment is to establish the right treatment, not to find a reason to operate.
International patients generally travel when they are looking for an opinion, or a treatment pathway, that is not readily available to them at home.
Dr Okiror personally performed 153 anatomical lung cancer resections in 2024–25. He operates in the NHS within the thoracic unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’, where 969 primary lung cancer resections were carried out over the same period — roughly one in eight of all such operations performed in the United Kingdom. 71.3% of the unit’s anatomical resections were performed robotically, and the unit’s operative survival rate was 99.59%.
Yes. Patients contact the practice directly from all over the world, and a video consultation can usually be arranged quickly once imaging and reports have been received and reviewed.
A remote consultation is a full clinical consultation, not a screening call. Dr Okiror reviews your scans personally beforehand, and you will have an unhurried discussion of the diagnosis, what the imaging shows, the options, and what he would recommend. Family members can join. You receive a written summary afterwards.
Consultation fees range from £250 to £350 depending on the type of consultation and the funding arrangement, and Jo Mitchelson, PA, confirms the fee before anything is booked. Where surgery is recommended, a written quotation covering surgical, anaesthetic and hospital costs is provided before you commit to travelling. There should be no uncertainty about the major costs before you get on a plane.
Sponsored and embassy-funded patients are seen, and the necessary treatment plan and estimate can be issued for your sponsor. Further detail is on the self-pay and insurance page.
Your images can be uploaded securely from wherever you are. If you are unable to upload them, imaging discs can be posted instead — this happens regularly and is not a problem. Letters and reports are sent directly to Dr Okiror by email.
Please do not rely on the radiology report alone. Dr Okiror reviews the images himself, and a report written elsewhere is not a substitute for looking at the scan. What CT, PET and MRI each contribute is set out on the chest imaging page.
If you are unsure what you have or how to obtain it, contact Jo and she will tell you exactly what to ask your hospital for.
Once your imaging has been reviewed and you have had your video consultation, cancer cases and severe COPD cases are discussed at a multidisciplinary team meeting — surgeons, oncologists, respiratory physicians, radiologists and pathologists together. The recommendation you receive is a team decision rather than one surgeon’s opinion, which matters when you are being asked to travel a long way on the strength of it.
Often, yes — and for someone travelling internationally that is the difference between one journey and three.
Where a lung nodule needs a tissue diagnosis first, Dr Okiror uses ION robotic bronchoscopy. A thin robotic catheter is steered through the airways to reach nodules deep in the lung, with no incision, taking a biopsy and marking the site where required.
Where the clinical circumstances allow, this is combined with robotic resection under the same anaesthetic — the nodule is located, sampled and, if malignant, removed in one procedure. Not every case is suitable, and you will be told which applies to you. Where it is possible, a pathway that otherwise means a biopsy visit, a wait, a clinic visit and then an operation becomes a single admission. This is set out in detail on the combined biopsy and robotic surgery page.
Robotic and keyhole approaches are used for the majority of operations. For someone who has travelled, smaller incisions and a shorter stay are not a cosmetic matter — they determine how soon you can go home.
This depends on what has been done, and it is worth separating two periods: the nights you spend in hospital, and the total time you need to remain in the United Kingdom before flying.
Air travel after chest surgery is not immediately safe, because air trapped in the chest expands as cabin pressure falls. Published guidance for uncomplicated thoracic surgery generally suggests a delay of around two to three weeks, though the evidence behind it is limited and the decision is an individual one. Around two weeks is therefore a reasonable planning assumption after a straightforward lung resection — a planning figure, not a clearance. The actual timing depends on your recovery, your imaging, and whether there is any residual air in the chest or other reason that makes flying unsafe. After more complex or extensive surgery — extended resections, chest wall or airway work — a month is more realistic.
You are given an expected duration before you travel so that leave, accommodation and anyone accompanying you can be planned properly. You are seen in clinic before you are cleared to fly, and you will not be sent to a long flight until it is safe to take one. What recovery involves week by week is set out on the recovery after lung surgery page.
Your care does not have to move entirely to London.
Dr Okiror’s role can be confined to the specialist assessment or the operation itself, while your respiratory physician, oncologist or surgeon at home continues to look after you locally. For most international patients that is the better arrangement, and it is the one he prefers.
Follow-up is by video consultation for as long as it is needed. Surveillance scans are arranged locally and the images sent back for review, with findings brought to the multidisciplinary team meeting where relevant. Your operation note, discharge summary and histology are sent to the doctors looking after you at home.
This is why your local doctor’s contact details matter at the outset. It means your records, results and follow-up flow properly rather than depending on you to carry them between systems.
You are given clear written instructions on what to watch for, what is expected during recovery and what is not, and how to reach the practice.
If something arises, contact Jo and a video consultation is arranged promptly. Dr Okiror will speak directly to the doctors treating you locally where that would help. Urgent problems must be assessed where you are — that is what your local team and your nearest emergency department are for — but they should not be managing you without the operative detail, and he will make sure they have it.
Most people who travel are not looking for a routine operation that could be done anywhere. They are in one of a small number of situations where a specialist opinion, or a particular procedure, changes what is possible. These are the commonest.
You have been told you may need lung surgery and want an independent opinion before agreeing to it.
You have been told surgery is not possible and want to know whether another surgical option exists.
You have a lung nodule and the diagnosis or the next step is unclear.
You have locally advanced lung cancer and want an opinion on surgery after chemotherapy or immunotherapy.
You have a tumour or narrowing involving the windpipe or main airways.
You have severe emphysema and want to know whether lung volume reduction is an option.
You have a rare or complex thoracic condition and cannot find a surgeon locally who treats it regularly.
You have recurrent lung collapse linked to your menstrual cycle and thoracic endometriosis has been raised.
Conditions most often travelled for include lung cancer, locally advanced lung cancer, complex resections for malignant disease, tracheal resection and central airway problems, severe COPD and emphysema, mediastinal tumours including thymoma, and thoracic endometriosis. This is not the full range of Dr Okiror’s practice — if your condition is not listed, see all conditions or contact Jo.
No. Dr Okiror is registered with the General Medical Council and practises in the United Kingdom. He cannot provide treatment, operate, or take over your care in a country where he is not registered.
Three consequences follow.
Advice is given on the basis of what would be offered to you in the United Kingdom. What is available where you are may differ, and your local team remains responsible for your care there.
Prescriptions cannot be issued for medicines to be dispensed in another country.
If surgery is recommended and you would prefer to have it closer to home, that is often entirely reasonable and Dr Okiror will say so. If you would like him to carry out the operation, it takes place in London.
Yes. Where treatment has been recommended, Dr Okiror can provide a medical letter confirming that a plan has been proposed and that you are expected to attend in London for it.
The letter is provided to you to submit yourself. It is a clinical letter only. Neither Dr Okiror nor his practice provides immigration advice or makes applications on any patient’s behalf.
Mr Okiror welcomes referrals from colleagues abroad. Send imaging and a summary of the case and he will review it personally and respond directly to you.
Patients referred from overseas return to their referring team, and the referring clinician remains involved in decision-making throughout. This is specialist input into a patient’s existing care, not a replacement for it. Operative notes, histology and discharge summaries are sent to you, and he is available to discuss the case before or after any intervention.
Correspondence: pa@lungsurgeon.co.uk · +44 (0)20 7952 2882
Questions people ask when they are considering travelling to London for a thoracic surgical opinion or an operation.
Request an International Consultation →Or call Jo Mitchelson:
+44 (0)20 7952 2882
Send your imaging and a short summary of your diagnosis and history. Jo will confirm the fee and the next available consultation slot. Video consultations are arranged across time zones, and surgery takes place at London Bridge Hospital or The Lister Hospital Chelsea.
Jo Mitchelson, PA · +44 (0)20 7952 2882 · pa@lungsurgeon.co.uk
St Thomas’ Hospital #1 UK · Guy’s Hospital #2 UK · London Bridge Hospital #10 UK · Newsweek World’s Best Hospitals 2026