Persistent air leaks (PAL) is a common complications after pulmonary operation. Risk factors include operationrelated and general factors. At present， stapling device, staple line buttressing, pleural tent, and pneumoperitoneum are the main methods for management. This review described the definition, risk factors, qualitative and quantitative evaluation, and recent progress in air leak prevention and management.
With the wide utilization of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in the lung cancer screening, patients detected with pulmonary ground-glass nodules (GGNs) have increased over time and account for a large proportion of all thoracic diseases. Because of its less invasiveness and fast recovery, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is currently the first choice of surgical approach to lung nodule resection. However, GGNs are usually difficult to recognize during VATS, and failure of nodule localization would result in conversion to thoracotomy or extended lung resection. In order to cope with this problem, a series of approaches for pulmonary nodule localization have developed in the last few years. This article aims to summarize the reported methods of lung nodule localization and analyze its corresponding pros and cons, in order to help thoracic surgeons to choose appropriate localization method in different clinical conditions.
Quality control of general thoracic surgery contains many links including the qualification and technical conditions of medical institutions, preoperative diagnostic system, surgery, postoperative management, pathological diagnosis and follow-up. Standards of quality control should be based on evidence-based medicine, and general rules with detailed criteria. As one of the core concepts of quality control, fine management is ought to strictly follow clinical practice guideline of thoracic surgery, to be clear with quality standards of each key link in clinical pathway, and to improve the clinical quality control system that combines self-evaluation and supervision and inspection.
The rapid development of domestically produced high-end medical endoscopes, particularly those incorporating 4K ultra-high-definition and fluorescence imaging, has shown significant promise in minimally invasive thoracic surgery. This expert consensus systematically delineates the clinical applications and value of these advanced technologies in various thoracic procedures, including wedge resection, anatomical segmentectomy, and bronchial sleeve resection. Furthermore, it establishes a scientific, quantitative evaluation system for these domestic thoracoscopes. The proposed framework comprises four primary indicators (reliability, efficiency & cost-effectiveness, clinical performance, and service & support) and 14 secondary indicators, each with a defined weight. This consensus aims to provide technical guidance for clinicians, direct future research and development for manufacturers, and ultimately promote the widespread adoption of high-quality domestic medical endoscopes, thereby advancing the national medical equipment industry.
With the development of thin section axial computed tomography scan, the detection rate of pulmonary ground-glass nodules (GGN) continues increasing. GGN has a special natural growth history: pure ground-glass nodules (PGGN) smaller than 10 mm can hold steady for a long term, surgery resection is unnecessary, patients need regular follow up. Larger part solid ground-glass nodules (PSN) with a solid component can be malignant early stage lung cancer, which requires early surgery intervention. Establishment of a standard definition of GGN growth, investments in the long term natural growth history of GGN, validation of the clinical, radiology and genetic risk factors would be beneficial for the management of GGN patients.
Histopathology is still the golden standard for the diagnosis of clinical diseases. Whole slide image (WSI) can make up for the shortcomings of traditional glass slices, such as easy damage, difficult retrieval and poor diagnostic repeatability, but it also brings huge workload. Artificial intelligence (AI) assisted pathologist's WSI analysis can solve the problem of low efficiency and improve the consistency of diagnosis. Among them, the convolution neural network (CNN) algorithm is the most widely used. This article aims to review the reported application of CNN in WSI image analysis, summarizes the development trend of CNN in the field of pathology and makes a prospect.
Systematic lymph nodes dissection has been a standard procedure in lung cancer surgery, while the manipulation of mediastinal lymph nodes for early stage lung cancer remains controversial since surgeons have been weighing the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of lymph node dissection. With an increasing in early stage non-small cell lung cancer patients in recent years, there are more and more intensive studies especially focusing on the mediastinal lymph nodes dissection of clinical stage ⅠA lung cancer. In this review, the lymph nodes management of clinical stage ⅠA non-small cell lung cancer, especially systematic lymph nodes dissection and sampling as well as lobe-specific lymph node dissection, are summarized.
Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common disorder with significant morbidity and mortality in patients who underwent pulmonary ground-glass nodules (GGN) resection. We should make efforts to increase surgeons' awareness of risk factors of PE and their understanding of the effectiveness of prevention strategies. Using the optimal risk assessment model to identify high-risk patients and give them the individualized prophylaxis. Early diagnosis and accurate risk stratification is mandatory to reduce the rates of PE, to decrease health care costs and shorten the length of stay. This article summarizes the risk factors, diagnostic process, risk assessment models, prophylaxis and therapy for the PE patients who underwent GGN resection.
ObjectiveTo explore the teaching model of the "LungSmart" smart healthcare system in clinical pulmonology teaching and its effectiveness in enhancing the clinical reasoning skills of postgraduate students. MethodsA single-center, single-group pretest-posttest educational intervention study was conducted among 30 postgraduate students who participated in respiratory medicine-related teaching activities and enrolled in the "LungSmart" smart healthcare course at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from 2024 to 2025 academic year. The course was structured around three core components, namely an AI case repository, dynamic simulation, and immediate feedback, and was delivered over 16 weeks with a total of 64 class hours. Teaching effectiveness was assessed using pretest and posttest clinical reasoning ability scores, while students’ acceptance of the course was evaluated using a 5-point Likert questionnaire. ResultsAll 30 students completed the teaching activities and were included in the final analysis. The pretest score was (78.83±6.25) points, and the posttest score increased to (93.50±4.18) points, with a mean improvement of (14.67±7.06) points (95%CI, 12.03 to 17.30), indicating a statistically significant improvement after the intervention (t=11.37, P<0.001). A total of 30 valid questionnaires were collected at the end of the course, with a response rate of 100.0%. The overall satisfaction score was (4.67±0.15) points, and the mean scores for content satisfaction, practical value, interest stimulation, and professional competence were (4.72±0.23) points, (4.53±0.35) points, (4.72±0.39) points, and (4.75±0.43) points, respectively. ConclusionThese findings suggest that the clinical teaching model based on the "LungSmart" smart healthcare system is feasible and well accepted, and may help improve postgraduate students’ clinical reasoning ability.