A Sauerbruch chamber, is a hermetically sealed chamber where surgical operations of the thorax are carried out, preventing complication by elevating or reducing air pressure.[1] It was developed by the German surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch and first used in 1904.
In the Sauerbruch chamber the patient's head is elided, sticking out of the glass-chamber. The surgical team works inside the chamber that hermetically seals the body of the patient. To start the operation on the thorax a vacuum of 1/10 Bar is generated in the chamber, preventing the patient's lungs from collapsing upon opening the thorax.