thoracotomy

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

thoracotomy
    n 1: surgical incision into the chest walls opening up the
         pleural cavity

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Thoracotomy \Tho`ra*cot"o*my\, n. [Gr. ?, ?, thorax + ? to cut.]
   (Surg.)
   The operation of opening the pleural cavity by incision.
   [1913 Webster]