Department of Thoracic Surgery

Since the 1930s, Peking Union Medical College Hospital has successfully performed the first domestic lobectomy, pneumonectomy, and left thoracotomy for cardia cancer, marking the birth of the thoracic surgery department and becoming an important symbol of the initiation of thoracic surgery in China. Over the following decades, pioneers and founders of Chinese thoracic surgery such as Wu Yingkai, Huang Jiasi, and Xu Letian have written brilliant chapters here. The new generation of thoracic surgeons at Peking Union Medical College Hospital inherits the fine traditions of their predecessors, continuously innovating and striving for progress in medical care and research, ensuring that the department remains at the forefront of domestic thoracic surgery and becomes a top center for the diagnosis and treatment of complex thoracic diseases.

After years of development, the Department of Thoracic Surgery currently has 60 beds and 21 full-time physicians, with Professor Li Danqing serving as the director. In recent years, the annual surgical volume has exceeded 1,800 cases. The department has 4 full professors, 6 associate professors, 8 attending physicians, and 3 resident physicians, with 15 holding doctoral degrees and 6 holding master's degrees. All attending physicians and above are capable of independently performing common resections for lung, esophageal, and cardia cancers, as well as minimally invasive surgeries for mediastinal tumors, with surgical complications below 5% and inpatient mortality rates below 1%;

Under the efforts of past directors and colleagues, the thoracic surgery team has achieved remarkable results. In 1990, under the leadership of Director Xu Letian, the department's work on 'Surgical Treatment of Esophageal Cardia Cancer' won the third prize for scientific and technological progress from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; in 1995, the vascular surgery work 'Surgical Treatment of Thoracoabdominal Aneurysms' led by Director Li Zejian won the third prize for scientific and technological progress from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; in 1998, the department's work 'Surgical Treatment of Malignant Esophageal Tumors at Peking Union Medical College Hospital' won the second prize for scientific and technological progress from Peking Union Medical College Hospital; in August 1999, the department, led by Director Li Zejian, along with Beijing Hospital's Xu Xianhao, won the second prize from the Ministry of Health for 'The Proposal of Generalized Myasthenia Gravis Autoimmunity, Determination of Severity of Fatigue, and Establishment of New Clinical Immunodiagnostic Methods' (Certificate No. 99202102). Additionally, the Department of Thoracic Surgery also handles complex cases from across the country, being one of the few centers in the country responsible for managing high-difficulty, high-risk, and complex thoracic conditions. Besides treating common thoracic diseases, the department leads the nation in surgeries for myasthenia gravis and thymoma, and ranks among the top in the treatment of esophageal, cardia, and bronchogenic cancers.

The Department of Thoracic Surgery has successfully performed several high-difficulty surgeries, such as simultaneous major vascular replacement during resection of malignant mediastinal tumors/rare large tumors, sleeve lobectomy and bronchoplasty, tracheal tumor resection, high esophageal cancer resection with pharyngeal anastomosis, total sternal resection and reconstruction, and resection and reconstruction of large sternal tumors, achieving good therapeutic outcomes. In terms of new technologies, the department has widely implemented minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgeries such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and mediastinoscopy in recent years, with cumulative VATS surgeries exceeding a thousand cases. VATS not only handles simpler cases like spontaneous pneumothorax and lung biopsy but also more complex surgeries such as thymectomy, mediastinal tumor resection, total thoracoscopic lobectomy with lymph node dissection, and total thoracoscopic esophagectomy. Since 2006, diagnostic and therapeutic work using mediastinoscopy has also been widely carried out, achieving good clinical results. The Department of Thoracic Surgery has established a lung tumor thoracic surgery laboratory in collaboration with the Department of Respiratory Medicine; current research projects include: the Ministry of Education's major scientific research project 'Translational Medicine Research on Individualized Comprehensive Diagnosis and Treatment of Thoracic Tumors'; the Wu Jieping Medical Foundation 'Clinical Research Special Funding'; 'Peking Union Medical College Hospital Youth Fund'; 'Youth Teacher Project' of Peking Union Medical College; 'Outstanding Young Teacher Research Fund' of the Ministry of Education; general project research fund of the National Medical Examination Center; and successful applications for the 'Huo Yingdong Lung Cancer Special Fund' projects such as: 'Clinical Research on Individualized Comprehensive Treatment of Advanced NSCLC'; 'Relationship between Serum Proteomic Patterns and Pathological Staging in Lung Cancer Patients'; and 'Research on Predicting the Efficacy of Targeted Therapeutic Drugs Aimed at the EGFR Signaling Pathway' (joint project between the Department of Thoracic Surgery and the Department of Respiratory Medicine). Collaborative research projects with other departments include: 'Clinical Research on the Importance of Neck Lymph Node Dissection in Surgical Treatment of Lung Cancer' and 'Differential Diagnosis of Lung Cancer Using PET Combined with Serum Protein Fingerprint Analysis'.

In 2006, the Department of Thoracic Surgery passed the evaluation for the Beijing Specialist Physician Training Base, currently being one of the first specialist physician training bases in Beijing; the department was recognized by the Ministry of Health as one of the first training bases for thoracic endoscopic diagnosis and treatment technology; in 2006, the department was awarded the title of Advanced Collective for Central Senior Health Care; in February 2007, the project 'Successful Rescue of Acute Respiratory Failure Caused by Malignant Tumors of the Major Airways' won the third prize for medical achievements from Peking Union Medical College Hospital; in January 2008, the project 'Diagnosis and Treatment of Superior Mediastinal Malignant Tumors Invading Major Vessels Leading to Superior Vena Cava Obstruction Syndrome' won the second prize for medical achievements from Peking Union Medical College Hospital; on September 10, 2008, it received the Scientific and Technological Progress Award from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; in December 2009, the project 'Sternal Tumor Resection and Chest Wall Reconstruction' won the third prize for medical achievements from Peking Union Medical College Hospital; in November 2011, it received the 'Outstanding Contribution Award' from the Ministry of Health's Medical Management Department; in 2012, the entire department was awarded the Progress Award for Rational Use of Blood from Peking Union Medical College Hospital; in December 2012, the project 'Application of Minimally Invasive Techniques in Esophageal Cancer Surgery' won the third prize for medical achievements from Peking Union Medical College Hospital; in December 2012, the project 'Industrialization Technology and Application of Targeted Anti-Cancer Natural Drugs from Lipid-Like Compounds' won the second prize for the National Science and Technology Progress Award from the State Council of the People's Republic of China; in December 2012, the project 'Technical Research and Clinical Application of Functional Molecular Imaging in Nuclear Medicine' won the second prize for the Beijing Science and Technology Award from the People's Government of Beijing; in January 2013, the project 'Technical Innovation and Clinical Application of Molecular Imaging in Nuclear Medicine' won the second prize for the Excellent Research Achievements Award from Higher Education Institutions. In 2004, 'Modern Thoracic Surgery' edited by Professor Xu Letian was published, and at the end of 2010, 'Thoracic Surgery at Peking Union Medical College' (the second edition of 'Modern Thoracic Surgery', with significantly increased content and word count) was published under the honorary editorship of Professor Xu Letian and the editorship of Professor Zhang Zhiyong. The third edition of 'Thoracic Surgery at Peking Union Medical College' is currently under intensive revision.