Thoracic Surgery

The Department of Thoracic Surgery of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital is currently a National Key Clinical Specialty, a Shanghai Key Discipline, and a Shanghai “Top Priority” Key Discipline. To date, it has performed more than 100,000 thoracic surgical procedures of various types. As a national training base for pulmonary and thoracic surgery designated by the Ministry of Health, it has ranked among the top three in general thoracic surgery for 10 consecutive years in the “Annual Ranking of China’s Hospitals by Best Specialty Reputation.” It currently has 8 general wards, 2 special-care wards, and 2 intensive-care units, with a total of 525 beds and 26 high-level thoracic operating rooms equipped with intraoperative CT, intraoperative C-arms, da Vinci robots, and other facilities. It is the supporting institution of the Shanghai Engineering and Technology Research Center for Lung Transplantation. In 2021, the surgical volume exceeded 21,000 cases. It is currently the general thoracic surgery center with the largest surgical volume in the world and ranks first internationally in minimally invasive surgical volume. There are currently 28 physicians at the rank of associate chief physician or above, 15 professors and associate professors, 11 doctoral supervisors, and 12 master’s supervisors. The department includes 1 National Health and Family Planning System Advanced Worker, 1 recipient of the National Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Talent Project, 2 National Natural Science Foundation of China Distinguished Young Scholars, 2 recipients of the National Natural Science Foundation of China Excellent Young Scientists Fund, 1 Chief Scientist of the 973 Program, 1 Chief Young Scientist of the 973 Program, 1 recipient of the Shanghai Medical Development Outstanding Contribution Award, 1 recipient of the Shanghai May 1 Labor Medal, 2 Shanghai Leading Talents, 2 Shanghai Medical Leading Talents, 1 recipient of the China Outstanding Contribution Award in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, 2 AATS Members of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, and 2 Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS). Professors Ding Jiaan, Jiang Gening, Zhu Yuming, and Chen Chang are all renowned thoracic surgeons in China and abroad.

The center focuses on the clinical diagnosis and treatment of thoracic tumors. It has carried out extensive work in lung cancer, surgical treatment of end-stage lung disease, mediastinal tumors, pulmonary tuberculosis, and tracheal surgery. In recent years, it has achieved new results particularly in comprehensive lung-cancer treatment, minimally invasive thoracic surgery, lung transplantation, tracheal surgery, and refractory empyema, establishing its leading position in China. Its clinical innovations (uniportal VATS, subxiphoid VATS, tracheal surgery, mediastinal tumors, and chest-wall surgery), approved patents, presentations at international conferences, National Natural Science Foundation projects, number of clinical studies, SCI publications, training of foreign physicians, and international surgical broadcasts all rank among the leading levels in China. In the “Ranking of China’s Hospitals by Best Specialty Reputation” released by the Institute of Hospital Management of Fudan University, it ranked among the top three in general thoracic surgery every year from 2010 to 2021 and second from 2020 to 2021. In recent years, it has ranked among the top three nationwide in China’s hospital science and technology evaluation, and ranked first in thoracic surgery in the national hospital Internet influence rankings from 2017 to 2022.

In lung transplantation, which represents the comprehensive technical level of thoracic surgery, the center performs single-lung transplantation, sequential bilateral lung transplantation, living-donor lobar lung transplantation (the first case in China), lung retransplantation (the first case in Asia), simultaneous bilateral lung-volume-reduction surgery during lung transplantation (the first such procedure in China), and the application of ECMO in lung transplantation for critically ill patients.

In recent years, its clinical achievements have repeatedly received major clinical awards, including first, second, and third prizes of the Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award and the Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award. It has obtained 69 national patents, including 11 invention patents and 58 utility-model patents. It was the first in the world to use an autologous pedicled pectoralis major myocutaneous flap and segmental tracheal resection to treat long-segment tracheal tumors. It performed Asia’s first pedicled myocutaneous-flap transplantation for refractory empyema and bronchopleural fistula. It has the largest number of innovative tracheal-surgery techniques in China, pioneered a new carinal reconstruction procedure, performed artificial tracheal replacement, carried out China’s first tracheoplasty using an autologous bronchial flap, repaired tracheal defects with autologous myocutaneous flaps, and repaired postoperative defects caused by long-segment cervical tracheal stenosis with autologous costal cartilage.

The Department of Thoracic Surgery actively conducts international exchange and cooperation, has repeatedly presented at top international conferences, organized high-level domestic academic conferences, hosted large training courses, and established clinical education and training bases. The center has become a training base for key thoracic surgeons of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, a recommended institution for “uniportal thoracoscopy training” of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the preferred training base for uniportal thoracoscopy of the Japan Respiratory Society, a training base for thoracic-surgery visiting physicians of the Ministry of Health, a clinical training base in East China for Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic, a Shanghai thoracic-surgery specialty training base, and a Shanghai resident physician training base; it has also passed certification as a European endoscopy training base. In recent years, more than 800 senior physicians from 76 countries and regions have independently applied and paid their own expenses to undertake advanced training in the department. Presidents of regional medical societies, department directors, and consulting physicians account for one third of them, including the presidents of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons in two terms, the president of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery, the president of the Russian Society for Thoracic Surgery, the president of the Spanish Society of Thoracic Surgery, the president of the Philippine Society of Thoracic Surgery, and the editor-in-chief of CTSnet, the world’s largest cardiothoracic-surgery website.

At the same time, the department was among the first in China to conduct handovers and ward rounds entirely in English. Its clinical standards and humanistic care are aligned with international practice. It conducts live international surgical broadcasts, with participating venues across all continents, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Mexico; half of these are international conferences and continental thoracic-surgery society meetings.

In addition, the thoracic-surgery laboratory is equipped with professional technical researchers and can perform gene- and protein-level testing to support lung-cancer research. The thoracic-surgery animal laboratory can conduct various CV-, CL-, and SPF-grade animal experiments and is staffed by professional technical personnel. The lung-transplantation laboratory is the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation (Lung Transplantation). The Acupuncture Anesthesia Research Laboratory is a Level-I laboratory for “research on acupuncture anesthesia in lung resection” designated by the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau.