New Brunswick, one of Canada’s eastern maritime provinces is struggling to maintain their thoracic surgery service line within the small province of an estimated 800, 000 inhabitants. While a local hospital […]
Developments in chest tube management

from the Journal of Thoracic Disease and Dr. Chin Hao Chen (one of our favorites here at thoracics.org), advances in chest tube management
Thoracic surgery goes wireless

Dr. Chin Hao “Roy” Chen – inventor of the Chen esophagectomy, now presents his latest creation, the wireless thoracoscope. More about our recent article at Examiner.com
Credentialing versus certification for minimally invasive thoracic surgery?

The STS Task force takes on credentiallng in minimally invasive surgery but shouldn’t they be looking at advanced specialty certification instead?
Thoracic surgeon shortage in Australia

When you need surgery, How long will you wait? (and will there be anyone to perform the operation?) The on-going surgeon shortage now affecting South Australia.
Another home run: Dr. Gonzalez Rivas does it again!
the Babe Ruth of thoracic surgery continues his winning streak; and Dr. Benny Weksler heads south to the University of Tennessee. Kudos to both of these fine surgeons!
Dr. David Sugarbaker comes to Texas, and too much of a good thing!
Big reputations and legendary surgeons require big opportunities – and as everyone knows; every thing is bigger in Texas.
Chung et. al. Optimal timing of thoracoscopic drainage and decortication for empyema
A new Korean study looks at the best time to perform surgical interventions on patients with empyema thoracis.
Early ambulation after lung surgery: How early?
Dr. Khandhar of Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia and early ambulation after lung surgery
Rocco et al. “Ten year experience on 644 patients undergoing single-port (uniportal) video-assisted surgery

Reviewing “Ten years experience on 644 patients undergoing single-port (uniportal) video-assisted” by Gaetano Rocco et al. at the National Cancer Institute in Naples, Italy
Courses / Classes and meetings on Uni-port thoracoscopic techniques with Dr. Diego Gonzalez Rivas
For thoracic surgeons interested in becoming more familiar with uniport surgery, this is your chance to learn from the pioneers of the technique.
Surgical Removal of Lung Metastases in Breast Cancer
A discussion of Meimarakis’ recently published article, “Prolonged overall survival after pulmonary metastatectomy in patients with breast cancer.”
Two years and counting
celebrating our two-year anniversary here at Cirugia de Torax
Dual port VATS for recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax: Foroulis et. al
A newly published study comparing dual port thoracoscopy with mini-thoracotomy for the treatment of recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax
Endo GIA staple recall
Covidien announces a product recall of surgical staples cartridges and cautions against use in thoracic surgery patients.
Lung resection in high risk patients
a look at the results of Dr. Wolf’s recent study of high risk patients undergoing lung resections.
Thoracic Surgeons and smoking cessation
The use of social media by health care professionals to connect with our patients has increased at a phenomenal rate in this age of enhanced technology, social networking and smartphones.
Pulmonology throws down the gauntlet..
Evaluation and discussion of a new article by Davies et. al. (2011) which calls many of the current practices in thoracic surgery into question. Is this a legitimate assessment of evolving treatment strategies or another attempt for pulmonology to encroach on the thoracic surgery specialty? In this multi-part series, we will address the major points debated in this article.
Lung Resection in the Elderly – the Harvard/ Keating experience
a new article published in Cancer, and summarized at Medscape talks about the importance of Lung Resection for long-term survival in Lung Cancer.
New Regional Thoracic Surgery Center: Ontario, Canada
Creation of a new ‘regional thoracic surgery center’ in Hamilton, Ontario highlights some of the issues we’ve talked about here before: high volume centers, optimizing outcomes, decreasing wait times, and quality/ consistency of care.
Latest research findings: Mesothelioma
new research results from the University of Pennsylvania on the treatment of pleural mesothelioma.
Only TIME will tell: Esophagectomy
There is a new trial on the horizon that sounds promising; the Traditional Invasive versus Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy (TIME). It’s a timely study indeed as the rates of esophageal cancer in western countries continues to increase, due to GERD and obesity.
Lung cancer patients die awaiting surgery
the health care crisis hits home: prolonged waiting times for patients with lung cancer results in the deaths of several patients in Canada – and this scenario is projected to be repeated in the USA and Europe due to surgeon shortages and limited access to health care.
Robotic Thoracic Surgery
today, we are looking at the research and case reports related to the use of the Divinci robot for robot-assisted thoracic surgery..