Surgery moves forward

Like a true human Pandora’s Box, the mediastinum has always attracted thoracic surgeons testing their surgical maturity and technical skill as well. Indeed, the variety of benign and malignant diseases findable in the mediastinum always represents an important and durable surgical challenge.

Over the years, a number of surgical approaches and techniques have been developed and accomplished to enhance the consent of patients and improve the outcomes. Many decades were due before the relevant technological advances made possible a real jump ahead in surgical evolution with the introduction of video-assisted thoracic surgery. This device allowed the solution of the multitude of inconveniences following sternotomy with equivalent results.

Hence, many minor and major mediastinal procedures can be safely performed with low trauma and great efficacy achieving good surgical and cosmetic results. With this novel approach, even economical impact was relevant.

This issue focused on mediastinal surgery aims at capturing what has been developed in the last decade for the surgical management of mediastinal diseases. It can provide rapid information about new surgical approaches and techniques that may be exploited for improving therapeutic programs as well as the expectations of patients and physicians.

Many distinguished and innovative surgeons have participated in this special issue with their high consolidated experience in this field acquired in advanced centers all over the world. I thank all them so much.

Many thoracic surgeons take advantage from this progress but I advocate that the ultimate beneficiaries are the young surgeons attracted by this engaging field and moreover our patients.

I was addressed towards mediastinal surgery since my very first years of surgical training under the attentive guidance of Professor Costante Ricci. Initially as Assistant and thereafter as Associate Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, I was particularly committed to the surgery of thymus so appreciated by my mentor. I wish to express my gratitude to my maestro of thoracic surgery who always encouraged me. I feel blessed to have been one of his assistants for many years. Professor Ricci was a very skilled and innovative surgeon as well as consummate teacher.

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Journal of Visualized Surgery for the series “Mediastinal Surgery”. The article did not undergo external peer review.

Conflicts of Interest: The author has completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/jovs.2018.07.17). The series “Mediastinal Surgery” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. TCM served as the unpaid Guest Editor of the series. The author has no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The author is accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

Tommaso Claudio Mineo