Annual report of thoracic surgery service at Shanghai Chest Hospital in 2019

In running one of the largest thoracic surgery centers in China, the thoracic surgery team of the Shanghai Chest Hospital has exerted continuous effort in the surgical treatment of thoracic diseases. In 2019, a total 17,021 patients received thoracic surgeries at the hospital, including 14,591 pulmonary resections, 1,017 esophageal procedures, 1,089 mediastinal procedures, 59 tracheal procedures, and 9 lung transplantations. The total case volume increased by 21.1% compared to that of the year before, while the percentage of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) was as high as 89.8%, and included both videoassisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and robotic-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) (Figure 1). The indication for minimally invasive surgery was no longer reserved solely for early-stage thoracic diseases, but was extended to those patients with locally advanced tumors, those who had received neoadjuvant therapy, and those needing complex reconstructions after extensive resection. Furthermore, the rate of major complications has remained low over the past years, with the in-hospital mortality rate being only 0.18% Original Article