Lung cancer, one of the most prevalent cancer types globally, underscores the critical importance of early detection and precise diagnosis in its management. However, conventional pathological diagnostic methods encounter various limitations, including the intricacies of the diagnostic process and the challenges in achieving uniform results. In contrast to traditional pathology, digital pathology integrates digitized pathological information with artificial intelligence, and offers a pathway for rapid and accurate diagnostic assistance. It holds the potential to delve into the tumor characteristics and microenvironment information, thereby supporting precision diagnosis and treatment for lung cancer. This article elucidates the recent applications of digital pathology in lung cancer diagnosis, staging, treatment, and prognosis. Additionally, it addresses the challenges currently faced by digital pathology.

With the change of COVID-19 prevention and control strategy in China, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased significantly recently, which has also brought new challenges to the perioperative risk control of thoracic surgery. This paper puts forward several suggestions, aiming to standardize the preoperative screening and evaluation during the COVID-19 period, strictly grasp the indications and timing of surgery, optimize the medical management process, individualize surgical decision-making, and minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection to surgery.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma(MPM) is a kind of rare and aggressive malignant neoplasm. Surgery plays one of the most important roles in the treatment of MPM. However, due to the high morbidity and mortality reported, the survival benefit and indication of surgery are still controversial. This article will review the surgical indications, discuss and compare the roles of extrapleural pneumonectomy(EPP) and pleurectomy / decortication(P/D) which aim to achieve macroscopic complete resection(MCR) in the treatment of MPM. Finally, we summarized the progress of other treatment methods including targeted therapy and immunotherapy.

Treatment of stage Ⅲ NSCLC is challenging, and the best treatment strategy is still controversial. The emergence of new therapeutic agents and philosophy also continues to redefine the range of resectable/ potentially resectable NSCLC. Resectable N2-stage Ⅲ lymph nodes are usually scattered with well-defined margins and no adhesions to surrounding structures. Neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgery has lower local recurrence rate compared to radical radiotherapy. According to current guidelines, surgical treatment is not recommended for N3-stage Ⅲ NSCLC. However, for regional N3 disease with continuous response to chemotherapy, after careful selection, surgery may worth a try. The efficacy of immunotherapy in locally advanced lung cancer has been confirmed in many prospective clinical trials. Neoadjuvant immunotherapy significantly improves major pathological remission rates and pathological complete remission rates, which allows these downstaging patients have the chance to receive surgery and thus improve their long-term prognosis. For efficacy assessment of neoadjuvant immunotherapy, pathological biopsy is more reliable than CT. In conclusion, the progress in multimodality neoadjuvant therapy will provide more surgical opportunities and better long-term prognosis for patients with potentially resectable stage Ⅲ NSCLC.

Objective     To explore the clinical efficacy and learning curve of robot-assisted thymectomy via subxiphoid approach. Methods    The clinical data of patients with robot-assisted thymectomy surgery via subxiphoid approach performed by the same surgical team in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from February 2021 to August 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The cumulative sum (CUSUM) analysis and best fit curve were used to analyze the learning curve of this surgery. The general information and perioperative indicators of patients at different learning stages were compared to explore the impact of different learning stages on clinical efficacy of patients. Results    A total of 67 patients were enrolled, including 31 males and 36 females, aged 57.10 (54.60, 59.60) years. The operation time was 117.00 (87.00, 150.00) min. The best fitting equation of CUSUM learning curve was y=0.021 2x3–3.192 5x2 +120.17x–84.444 (x was the number of surgical cases), which had a high R2 value of 0.977 8, and the fitting curve reached the top at the 25th case. Based on this, the learning curve was divided into a learning period and a proficiency period. The operation time and intraoperative blood loss in the proficiency stage were significantly shorter or less than those in the learning stage (P<0.001), and there was no statistical difference in thoracic drainage time and volume between the two stages (P>0.05). Conclusion    The learning process of robot-assisted thymectomy via subxiphoid approach is safe, and this technique can be skillfully mastered after 25 cases.

With the change of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention and control strategy in China, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased significantly recently, which has also brought new challenges to the perioperative risk control of thoracic surgery. This paper puts forward several suggestions, aiming to standardize the preoperative screening and evaluation during the COVID-19 period, strictly grasp the indications and timing of surgery, optimize the medical management process, individualize surgical decision-making, and minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection to surgery.

Objective:To explore the risk factors of perioperative outcomes of lung transplantation and establish a predictive model for delayed extubation after lung transplantation.Methods:From January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022, 104 lung transplantation recipients were retrospectively collected to identify the risk factors of early post-operative outcome.According to the timing of extubation post-lung transplantation, they were assigned into two groups of normal(77 cases)and delayed(27 cases). Baseline profiles, type of primary diagnosis, cold ischemic duration and lung transplantation approach were compared between two groups.The factors with significant difference were examined by univariate and multivariate Logistic regression.Furthermore, multivariate logistic model was visualized by a nomogram.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and decision curve analysis(DCA) were performed for evaluating the model's predictive performance and its value for clinical utilization.Results:The postoperative mortality rate was 9.6%.Delayed extubation was a strong predictor for postoperative mortality.Cold ischemic time outperformed others variates in terms of delayed extubation prediction.AUC of cold ischemic time and multivariate logistic model was 0.75(95% CI: 0.69-0.81)and 0.87(95% CI: 0.82-0.91). Conclusions:Delayed postoperative extubation is a key predictor of early post-lung transplantation mortality.The established predictive model may effectively identify high-risk patients for preventive intervention and survival improvement post-lung transplantation.

With the widespread application of high-resolution and low-dose computed tomography (CT), especially the increasing number of people participating in lung cancer screening projects or health examinations, the detection of pulmonary nodules is increasing. At present, the relevant guidelines for pulmonary nodules focus on how to follow up and diagnose, but the treatment is vague. And the guidelines of European and American countries are not suitable for East Asia. In order to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary nodules and address the issue of disconnection between existing guidelines and clinical practice, the Lung Cancer Medical Education Committee of the Chinese Medicine Education Association has organized domestic multidisciplinary experts, based on literature published by experts from East Asia, and referring to international guidelines or consensus, the "Chinese expert consensus on multi-disciplinary minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of plmonary nodules" has been formed through repeated consultations and thorough discussions. The main content includes epidemiology, natural course, malignancy probability, follow-up strategies, imaging diagnosis, pathological biopsy, surgical resection, thermal ablation, and postoperative management of pulmonary nodules.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death in China. Early screening of lung cancer proves to be effective in improving its prognosis. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has updated and released version 2, 2022 NCCN clinical practice guidelines for lung cancer screening in July, 2022. Based on high-quality clinical evidence and the latest research progress, the guidelines have developed and updated criteria for lung cancer screening which have been widely recognized by clinicians around the world. Compared with Chinese lung cancer screening guidelines, this article will interpret the updated content of the brand new 2022 NCCN screening guidelines, providing some reference for the current lung cancer screening practice in our country.

Objective:To explore the sex-based heterogeneity in demographic and pathological trends of lung cancer during the past 30 years.Methods:Patients with primary lung cancer who received surgical treatment in the Department of thoracic surgery, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital Tongji University from 1989 to 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The differences between male and female patients in age, smoking history, pathological stage and type were compared. Mann- Kendall trend test was performed for trend analysis. Results:A total of 58 433 patients were included in this study, encompassing 30 729(52.6%) men and 27 , 704(47.4%) women. Compared with male patients, female patients were younger(56.0 years old vs. 59.7 years old), and had a higher proportion of non-smokers(98.3% vs. 52.3%), stage Ⅰ lung cancers(60.6% vs. 49.3%), and adenocarcinoma(93.7% vs. 56.1%, all P-values <0.001). Trend analyses revealed that the proportion of female patients increased year by year, and surpassed males in 2015, with the current ratio of male to female being 1∶1.5. After 2013, the age of onset in females was getting younger, and the average age decreased from 58.7 years old to 54.7 years old( P=0.02). The decrease in the proportion of smoking patients was mainly reflected by male patients(from 68.5% to 31.1%, P<0.01). Stage Ⅰ lung cancers in male and females outnumbered advanced stage in 2012 and 2010, respectively, with a much higher proportion in female patients. Among male patients, adenocarcinoma has replaced squamous cell carcinoma as the most common pathological type since 2012, while in female patients adenocarcinoma remained the most common pathological type of lung cancer, and its proportion continued to increase reaching over 98%. Conclusion:A dramatic change in gender distribution was noticed during the past 30 years. Female patients became the primary population in surgically-treated lung cancers, with a trend of getting younger. The proportion of smokers and squamous cell carcinoma decreased significantly in male patients, and adenocarcinoma has become the most common pathological type of lung cancer. The proportion of stage Ⅰ lung cancers was on a dramatic rise, with the popularization of CT screening for lung cancer.