Kazuhiro Yasufuku, MD, PhD, FRCSC

Senior Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI)
Keywords: thoracic surgery, minimally invasive surgery, image-guided therapy, nanomedicine, lung cancer

Dr. Yasufuku is a Staff Thoracic Surgeon in the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Toronto General Hospital and Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto.

He is the director of the Interventional Thoracic Surgery Program at UHN, which includes the Interventional Thoracic Surgery Animal Operating Room capable of high-end endoscopic development and the state-of-the-art Interventional Thoracic Surgery Suite for clinical application of new developments. He has continued to improve the quality and capability of minimally invasive diagnostics and reduced the timeline of detection, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

Dr. Yasufuku is the clinical lead of thoracic surgery within the Guided Therapeutics (GTx) program as well as the Thoracic Robotic Surgery Program at UHN. He is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of minimally invasive diagnostics and therapeutics for thoracic malignancy. He is a Scientist in the Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratory at UHN with special interest in nanotechnology-enabled image-guided intervention for lung cancer, molecular profiling of advanced-stage lung cancer by minimally invasive procedures and image-guided thoracic surgery.
Dr. Yasufuku's work includes the development of new technology for early diagnosis and ultra-minimally invasive thoracic surgery, translational research in thoracic image guided therapeutics, nanotechnology-enabled image guided intervention for lung cancer, and molecular profiling of advanced stage lung cancer by minimally invasive procedures.
  • Selected Clinical Research Projects
    • 2015 Mar - present: Principal Investigator. Cone-beam CT Guided Microcoil Localization of Pulmonary Nodules during VATS.
    • 2015 Jan - present: Principal Investigator. Feasibility of Minimally Invasive Thoracoscopic Ultrasound for Localization of Pulmonary Nodules Using Resected Human Lungs.
    • 2014 Feb - present: Principal Investigator. Feasibility of a Novel Minimally Invasive Technique for Localization of Pulmonary Nodules Using Spy Thoracoscope System.
    • 2014 Feb - present: Principal Investigator. In Situ Laser Fenestration of Metallic Stents (MS).
    • 2013 May - present: Principal Investigator. Spectrum Image Analysis of Lymph Nodes During Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration in Patients with Lung Cancer.
    • 2013 Apr - present: Principal Investigator. Pilot Study Using Combined Virtual 4-D EM Tip-Tracked Devices and Endobronchial Ultrasound in the Diagnosis of Peripheral Pulmonary Nodules.
    • 2013 Feb - present: Principal Investigator. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration for lymph node staging in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT). 
    • 2012 Jun - present: Principal Investigator. A Retrospective Analysis of Diagnostic Approaches to Mediastinal Pathology at the University Health Network.
    • 2012 Jan - present: Principal Investigator. Adjuvant melatonin in the prevention of recurrence and mortality following lung cancer resection (AMPLCaRe): a randomized placebo controlled clinical trial.
    • 2011 Aug - present: Principal Investigator. Feasibility of evaluating gene alteration analysis using samples obtained by EBUS-TBNA in patients with lung cancer.

For a list of Dr. Yasufuku's publications, please visit PubMed or Scopus.

Senior Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI)

Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto
Cross Appointed Faculty, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto
Director of Endoscopy, University Health Network