Treatment of certain pulmonary conditions may require removal of part or all of a lung lobe. This study investigated two approaches for caudal lung lobectomy in dogs: the standard lateral thoracotomy (LT) and an alternative transdiaphragmatic (TD) method. The TD and LT techniques were performed on 18 canine cadavers, with the order of procedures and the operating surgeon randomized. To evaluate both methods, data were collected on operative duration, proportion of lobe resected, incision size, and any procedure-related tissue damage. Surgical time for the TD approach averaged 1155 ± 232.8 seconds, which did not differ significantly from the LT approach (1126.8 ± 180.6 seconds; p = 0.6131). The TD approach allowed removal of 25.83 ± 8.95% of the caudal lobe (range: 10.55–40.72%), while the LT approach achieved complete (100%) lobe excision. No notable differences were found in terms of iatrogenic injury between the two approaches. As an ex vivo study with three surgeons involved, results may not fully reflect in vivo conditions, and no leak testing was performed after lobectomy. The TD route offers a feasible alternative for partial caudal lung lobectomy in dogs, achieving comparable safety and operative time to the conventional LT method.
