The Society of Thoracic Surgeons General Thoracic Surgery Database: 2024 Update on Outcomes and Research

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons General Thoracic Surgery Database (STS GTSD) remains the largest and most comprehensive audited thoracic surgical database in the world. As the STS GTSD grows to nearly 1 million cases, the pulmonary resection for cancer and esophagectomy short-term risk models have been refined to provide participants with benchmarked performance reports to facilitate quality improvement efforts. New for 2025 will be the development of long-term risk models and the online release of both short- and long-term risk calculators. A voluntary module to collect neoadjuvant targeted and immunotherapy data has been created and accepted by participants and is rapidly accruing data. STS GTSD participant public reporting has increased 50% over the last 2 years after the application of the U.S. News & World Report 3% transparency credit. All GTSD data analyses are now performed internally by the STS Research and Analytic Center, resulting in multiple publications through the Access & Publication, Task Force on Funded Research and Participant User File mechanisms. Future initiatives include the incorporation of patient-reported outcomes into the STS GTSD, revision of the data collection form to incorporate variables associated with long-term outcomes, and focused efforts to increase the value of STS GTSD participation. This report delineates volume trends, recent initiatives, and the prolific research output emanating from the STS GTSD, reflecting a year of substantial progress and academic productivity.