Surgical management of benign hilar or interlobar lymphadenopathy

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has changed our thoughts on pulmonary diseases and therefore reformed routine practice dramatically around the world. Since first launch of VATS lobectomy 20 years ago, expertise has been growing mature accompany with rapid development of techniques and instruments. Traditional three ports or four ports access remains as mainstream practice, recent developed two ports or single port thoracoscopic surgery becomes a new darling of fashion in some high volume medical centers. Whatever the access routes evolves with time, surgical safety is always the key part of concern for medical professionals.

Difficult situations, such as benign lymphadenopathy due to previous infection conditions, present as severe challenge to junior surgeons. Learning expertise become more and more important for them to prevent life-threatening events during surgery. We invited several experienced surgeons in the world presenting their demonstration of VATS lobectomy to this special edition for a purpose of education and expertise communication. We sincerely hope their treasure experience on dealing with these difficult conditions will help us serve more patients safely and efficiently.

Nan Wu, MD.