Thoracic Surgery

I. Basic Overview of the Specialty and Qualifications and Honors

The Department of Thoracic Surgery of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated with Xiamen University was established in the early 1990s. After 30 years of development, it has become a highly capable general thoracic surgery department in southwestern Fujian that integrates medical care, research, and teaching. It performs 1,500 operations annually, with minimally invasive procedures accounting for 95%, placing it in the first tier of thoracic surgery in China. For many consecutive years, the department has ranked among the national top 100 in thoracic surgery in the China Hospital Science and Technology Influence Rankings and has received the honorary title of “May 1 Pioneer” of Xiamen.

The department has 90 available beds, an annual outpatient volume of 27,000 person-visits, and an annual inpatient volume of 3,000 person-visits. Its current qualification platforms include:

Provincial and municipal key specialties: Fujian Provincial Clinical Key Specialty, Xiamen Municipal Key Specialty, and the designated development unit for the Fujian Provincial Specialized Center for Pulmonary Malignancies;

National-level qualification platforms: National Standardized Residency Training Base, National Drug Clinical Trial Base, member institution of the National Respiratory Center Lung Cancer Early Screening and Early Diagnosis Alliance, and the Construction Center for Minimally Invasive Tumor (Lung Cancer) Intervention;

Provincial and municipal academic and project-leading institutions: institution holding the deputy chair of the Thoracic Surgery Branch of the Fujian Medical Association; institution undertaking the Lung Cancer Screening and Whole-Process Management Project; institution holding the chair of the Thoracic Surgery Branch of the Xiamen Medical Association; founding institution and chair institution of the Thoracic Surgeon Branch of the Xiamen Medical Doctor Association; and lead institution of the Xiamen Lung Cancer Whole-Process Management Alliance;

International cooperation and teaching platforms: exchange and cooperation institution with the Charité Medical School of Humboldt University, Germany; master’s degree-awarding site for Xiamen University and Fujian Medical University; and teaching institution for international MBBS students of Xiamen University School of Medicine (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery).

II. Core Diagnostic and Treatment Scope

The department can independently and routinely provide standardized diagnosis and refined surgical treatment for all types of benign and malignant thoracic surgical diseases, as well as diseases involving the thoracic cage, chest wall, pleura, and mediastinum. It covers a comprehensive range of conditions, specifically including:

Thoracic tumors: lung cancer, esophageal cancer, cardia cancer, mediastinal tumors, benign lung tumors, and others;

Common and difficult thoracic surgical diseases: spontaneous pneumothorax, thoracic trauma, pectus excavatum, pectus carinatum, hyperhidrosis of the hands and feet, myasthenia gravis, and various common, difficult, and structural lesions in thoracic surgery.

The department’s areas of distinctive strength include standardized comprehensive treatment of thoracic tumors and minimally invasive surgical treatment of various thoracic diseases. Its technology is mature, its treatment outcomes are reliable, and its diagnostic and treatment concepts are advanced. Surgical safety, the degree of minimally invasiveness, long-term treatment outcomes, and the quality of patient prognoses have all reached a leading level in China, enabling it to provide individualized, one-stop, high-quality thoracic surgical diagnosis and treatment services for patients with different conditions and of different age groups.

III. Distinctive Subspecialties and Core Technical Strengths

The department has established subspecialty directions based on the diagnostic and treatment needs of thoracic surgical diseases and implements a standardized model of disease-specific diagnosis and treatment. Its core technical strengths are prominent, and multiple core procedures rank among the international and national leaders.

(1) Subspecialty Team for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chest Wall Trauma and Deformities

The team was the first in the world to develop a thoracoscopic-assisted minimally invasive procedure for treating anterolateral flail chest, overcoming the major trauma and slow recovery associated with traditional surgery and providing a safer, minimally invasive treatment option for patients with severe chest wall injuries. It routinely and maturely performs minimally invasive corrective procedures for pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum, benefiting numerous patients through the advantages of less trauma, faster recovery, better shaping results, and favorable prognoses.

(2) Subspecialty Team for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Esophageal Diseases

The team was among the first in China to perform thoracoscopic-laparoscopic combined three-field radical esophagectomy, standardizing and improving the outcomes of radical esophageal cancer resection and effectively improving patients’ long-term prognoses. It routinely and maturely performs fourth-generation da Vinci robot-assisted three-field radical esophagectomy; its surgical outcomes, degree of minimally invasiveness, and standardized diagnostic and treatment capabilities have all reached an advanced level in Fujian Province. It can independently complete radical resection of locally advanced esophageal cancer, providing standardized surgical treatment options for patients with locally advanced esophageal malignancies.

(3) Subspecialty for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Diseases

The subspecialty has particularly prominent technical strengths in the field of precision minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of early-stage lung cancer. The team has innovatively integrated AI intelligent CT image analysis and AI three-dimensional reconstruction, two cutting-edge artificial-intelligence technologies, to precisely locate small lesions, clearly reproduce pulmonary anatomical structures, and precisely avoid important tissues such as blood vessels and bronchi. With the support of these technologies, it routinely performs uniportal thoracoscopic anatomical segmentectomy and combined subsegmentectomy. While achieving precise radical treatment of lung cancer, it maximally preserves normal lung tissue and protects patients’ pulmonary function, truly achieving the individualized diagnostic and treatment goals of “precise resection, lung preservation and enhanced efficacy, and rapid recovery.” Its level of minimally invasive precision diagnosis and treatment is aligned with the leading standards in China.

The department routinely and maturely performs totally endoscopic minimally invasive radical surgery for lung cancer and da Vinci robot-assisted radical surgery for lung cancer. It can independently complete difficult structural procedures such as resection of tracheal tumors combined with tracheal reconstruction, double-sleeve resection for lung cancer, and tracheal sleeve resection combined with pulmonary artery plasty, effectively addressing the diagnostic and treatment challenges posed by various complex airway and vascular lesions. For locally advanced lung cancer, it can precisely perform radical resection. It has also innovatively introduced minimally invasive radiofrequency ablation for advanced thoracic tumors, providing safe, effective, individualized palliative treatment options for patients with advanced tumors who have lost the opportunity for conventional surgery or cannot tolerate traditional surgery.

(4) Subspecialty for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Mediastinal and Pleural Diseases

The team can independently complete difficult procedures such as resection of giant and complex mediastinal tumors, effectively addressing the diagnostic and treatment challenges of various complex mediastinal lesions. It provides standardized minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment for pleural diseases, palmar hyperhidrosis, myasthenia gravis, and other mediastinal- and pleura-related diseases.

(5) Robotic Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment

The department closely follows the international frontier of minimally invasive surgery and routinely and maturely performs fourth-generation da Vinci robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. Relying on the latest crystal-clear 3D high-definition camera system installed on the equipment, it can magnify the operative field in high definition and present its ultrafine anatomical structures three-dimensionally, accurately distinguish lesions from important adjacent tissues such as blood vessels, bronchi, and nerves, and fundamentally overcome the limitations of the operative field in traditional surgery. This enables refined, safe, and precise resection of lesions, substantially improves surgical precision and safety, effectively reduces surgical trauma and the incidence of complications, and facilitates rapid recovery. To date, the department has completed more than 300 various robot-assisted minimally invasive procedures in total; its technology is mature and its diagnostic and treatment processes are standardized.

IV. Multidisciplinary MDT Comprehensive Diagnosis and Treatment and Whole-Process Management

Relying on a well-established specialized diagnostic and treatment system, the department has developed a multidisciplinary collaborative model of comprehensive diagnosis and treatment. For patients with thoracic tumors, especially lung cancer, it has established a closed-loop management system covering the entire disease course:

The department is Fujian Province’s only member institution of the Lung Cancer Early Screening and Early Diagnosis Alliance under the “National Lung Health Program” led by the National Respiratory Medical Center; Xiamen’s only institution approved by the Xiamen Municipal Health Commission as a high-quality project institution for “Whole-Process Management of Pulmonary Tumors”; and also Xiamen’s only “designated development unit for the Fujian Provincial Specialized Center for Pulmonary Malignancies.” It leads the free screening program of the “Love Your Lungs Initiative—Xiamen Station” and has established an integrated, closed-loop management system covering “early screening, early diagnosis, precision treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term follow-up,” shifting lung cancer care from “passive treatment” to “active prevention” and from “fragmented diagnosis and treatment” to “collaborative joint management.” To date, it has completed more than 3,000 free lung cancer screening person-visits, securing the critical treatment window for hundreds of patients with early-stage lung cancer and generating significant social benefits.

For locally advanced thoracic malignancies, the department relies on mature surgical techniques and its comprehensive diagnostic and treatment system, working with multidisciplinary teams from medical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology, pathology, and other specialties to formulate individualized diagnostic and treatment plans. For patients with advanced disease who have lost the opportunity for conventional surgery, it performs minimally invasive palliative treatments such as radiofrequency ablation, comprehensively improving the whole-cycle diagnostic and treatment system for thoracic tumors and meeting the diagnostic and treatment needs of patients at different stages of disease, including early, middle, and advanced stages.

V. Talent Team and Expert Strength

The department has strong technical capabilities and outstanding research and teaching standards, with a high-quality, well-structured professional team. It currently has 54 medical and nursing staff members, including 8 medical experts with senior professional titles, 2 PhD/doctoral degree holders, and 13 master’s degree holders; 3 supervisors for master’s graduate students at Xiamen University and Fujian Medical University; and 12 teachers qualified to provide standardized residency training. The team includes visiting scholars from the Charité Medical School in Berlin, Germany, the Department of Surgery of the University of Hong Kong, and other renowned institutions. Multiple experts hold important academic positions in thoracic surgery-related fields at the national, provincial, and municipal levels, with more than 100 academic appointments in organizations at all levels in total.

Chief Physician Wu Chaohui served as a senior thoracic surgery expert on the 16th Chinese (Fujian) medical team dispatched to Botswana. During his three years working in Africa, he brought advanced Chinese medical technology to the world and made important contributions to China’s medical foreign aid and diplomacy. He has successively received the titles of “National Model for Learning from Lei Feng in the Workplace,” “China’s Good Doctor,” “Outstanding Communist Party Member of Xiamen,” “Outstanding Communist Party Member of Xiamen Municipal Organs,” and “One of the Top Ten People Who Moved Xiamen.”

VI. Coordinated Development of Medical Care, Education, and Research

(1) Medical Services

The department has devoted itself to precision diagnosis and treatment and minimally invasive technologies. It routinely provides standardized and minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment for various thoracic surgical diseases, with an annual surgical volume of 1,500 procedures, minimally invasive procedures accounting for 95%, and more than 300 da Vinci robot-assisted minimally invasive procedures completed in total. It has accumulated extensive experience in high-difficulty surgery for complex and difficult thoracic surgical diseases. Multiple distinctive, landmark surgical techniques are mature and produce stable outcomes, with the department’s overall level reaching an advanced level in China. It continuously optimizes diagnostic and treatment service processes, provides patients with individualized, one-stop, high-quality diagnostic and treatment services, and facilitates rapid recovery.

(2) Teaching and Training

As a National Standardized Residency Training Base, a master’s degree site for Xiamen University and Fujian Medical University, and a teaching institution for international MBBS students of Xiamen University School of Medicine, the department has solidly fulfilled its training and teaching responsibilities for standardized residency trainees and medical graduate students. It has trained 15 master’s graduate students in total, with 10 graduate students currently in training. It is also responsible for the systematic teaching of overseas MBBS students of Xiamen University School of Medicine, covering the entire process of theoretical instruction and practical clinical training. Through its teaching platform, it disseminates China’s mature and advanced thoracic surgical diagnostic and treatment technologies, promotes mutual learning and exchange between Chinese and foreign medical professionals, and enables high-quality medical services to benefit people around the world.

For many consecutive years, the department has successfully hosted high-profile branded academic conferences such as the “Xiamen University Zhongshan Thoracic Surgery Advances Training Course,” establishing a highly influential specialized learning and exchange platform in the region. It actively broadens its international academic vision and proactively deepens international medical exchange and cooperation. It has successively welcomed more than 100 person-visits by internationally renowned thoracic surgery experts and peer scholars from multiple countries, including countries in Europe and the Americas, for departmental visits, discussions, and the exchange of clinical experience. Through its solid specialty strength and strong academic atmosphere, it continuously improves the department’s comprehensive strength and the level of specialty development.

(3) Research Innovation

The department has outstanding academic innovation capabilities. Over the past three years, it has achieved fruitful results in research development, and its research strength has steadily increased. It has successively secured 1 project funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and 3 provincial- and municipal-level research projects, with cumulative research funding of nearly RMB 15 million; obtained 2 national utility model patents; participated in the development of 5 guidelines and consensus statements; published 3 academic monographs; and successfully conducted 2 drug clinical trial studies.

The department’s medical and nursing staff devote themselves to academic research and conduct studies focused on clinical frontiers. As first and corresponding authors, they have cumulatively published more than 20 high-level SCI papers. Numerous high-quality achievements focusing on distinctive clinical technologies and the diagnosis and treatment of difficult cases have been successfully published in authoritative top international journals in thoracic surgery, including Cell Reports and Ann Thorac Surg, fully demonstrating the department’s solid clinical research capabilities and frontier academic research level.

The department has successively received multiple major industry awards: it was awarded the Xiamen Medical Innovation Award in 2016, selected as one of Xiamen’s Top Ten Medical Innovative Technologies in 2023, and awarded the Third Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Fujian Anti-Cancer Association in 2024. In 2026, its case, “Innovation of a Whole-Process Disease-Specific Diagnosis and Treatment System for Pulmonary Malignancies and Practical Development of the Xiamen Lung Cancer Whole-Process Management Alliance,” received the “Excellent Achievement” award at the Exhibition of Fruitful Achievements of the Boao Health Innovation and Talent Development Conference. Multiple innovative diagnostic and treatment technologies and research achievements have received high recognition from professional circles in the province and city, fully demonstrating the department’s capacity for technological breakthroughs and clinical innovation in thoracic surgery.

VII. Summary of the Department’s Core Strengths

Comprehensive platform qualifications: As a Fujian Provincial Clinical Key Specialty and a Xiamen Municipal Key Specialty, the department possesses multiple national-level qualification platforms, including standardized residency training, drug clinical trials, and the lung cancer early screening alliance. It is an important medical, teaching, and research center in thoracic surgery in southwestern Fujian and has ranked among the national top 100 in thoracic surgery science and technology influence for many consecutive years.

Leading minimally invasive technology: The department possesses distinctive minimally invasive procedures developed internationally for the first time or introduced in China ahead of others. It integrates cutting-edge technologies such as AI-assisted precision diagnosis and treatment and fourth-generation da Vinci robotic surgery. Minimally invasive procedures account for 95%, multiple core technologies have reached a first-class level in China and an advanced level in Fujian Province, and the department can independently complete various highly difficult and complex thoracic surgical procedures.

Comprehensive service system: The department has established a closed-loop whole-process management system for lung cancer and leads public-benefit early lung cancer screening programs. It covers the diagnostic and treatment needs of the entire disease course, from early screening and early diagnosis to palliative treatment in advanced stages, provides individualized diagnostic and treatment services for patients of different age groups and at different stages of disease, and generates significant social benefits.

Coordinated development of medical care, education, and research: The department has a well-structured professional team, is qualified to train master’s graduate students and teach international MBBS students, and publishes research achievements in authoritative international journals. It has received multiple provincial- and municipal-level science and technology and innovation awards, its academic exchange network covers China and the international community, and it has strong momentum for specialty development.

VIII. Vision for the Department’s Future

Looking ahead, the department will continue to remain at the forefront of thoracic surgery, adhere to the direction of precision minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment, continuously strengthen its clinical technical foundation, and deepen the development of the specialty. It will continue to advance the application of cutting-edge technologies such as da Vinci robotic surgery and artificial-intelligence-assisted precision diagnosis and treatment, expand the scope of highly difficult and complex thoracic surgical procedures, continuously strengthen the development of its talent pipeline and academic exchange and cooperation, focus on promoting clinical technology innovation, the translation of research achievements, and the improvement of teaching capabilities, and improve the standardized whole-process diagnosis and treatment system for thoracic diseases. Focusing on patients’ healthcare needs, it will continuously optimize its diagnostic and treatment service model, promote the in-depth implementation of minimally invasive, precise, and individualized diagnostic and treatment concepts, and steadily advance toward becoming a modern thoracic surgery specialty that is first-class in the region, leading in the province, and well known throughout China, safeguarding the thoracic health of the public with more sophisticated medical skills and higher-quality services.