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 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.

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 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.

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.

Voluntary contribution has become the only source of donor lungs in China since 2015. To elaborate the outcomes of patients awaiting lung transplantation (LTx) after the implementation of donation after brain death, we performed a retrospective study that encompassed 205 patients with end-stage lung disease who registered for LTx at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from January 1, 2015 to January 1, 2021. A total of 180 patients were enrolled in the study. The median waiting time was 1.25 months. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) (103/180, 57.2%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (56/180, 31.1%) were the most common diseases in our study population. The mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) of patients in the died-waiting group was higher than that of the survivors (53.29±21.71 mmHg vs. 42.11±18.58 mmHg, P=0.002). The mortality of patients with ILD (34/103, 33.00%) was nearly twice that of patients with COPD (10/56, 17.86%) while awaiting LTx (P=0.041). In the died-waiting group, patients with ILD had a shorter median waiting time than patients with COPD after being listed (0.865 months vs. 4.720 months, P=0.030). ILD as primary disease and mPAP > 35 mmHg were two significant independent risk factors for waitlist mortality, with hazard ratios (HR) of 3.483 (95% CI 1.311-9.111; P=0.011) and 3.500 (95% CI 1.435-8.536; P=0.006). Hence, LTx is more urgently needed in patients with ILD and pulmonary hypertension.
Humans ; Brain Death ; Retrospective Studies ; China ; Lung Transplantation ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/surgery*

Objective:To explore the airway pathogen characteristics and examine the correlation between donor-derived pathogens and post-transplant outcomes in patients after lung transplantation (LT).Methods:Between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019, retrospective review was conducted for clinical and microbiological data of 88 LT recipients.Airway pathogen percentage of different microorganisms and evolution of drug-resistance were examined.Drug-resistant pathogen positive group (n=71) and negative group (n=17) were assigned according to whether or not drug-resistant pathogens were detected.Survival analysis was conducted by Log-rank with 3-year follow-ups.Between April 11, 2020 and September 5, 2020, prospective study was conducted in 14LT recipients.The potential pathogenic bacteria from donor lungs were detected by metagenomic next generation sequencing and the impact of those bacteria was examined on 1-year post-transplantation outcome in 2020.Microbial diversity and richness were shown with Shannon index.The outcome variables included heart rate, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, immunoglobulin level and pulmonary spirometry.ANOVA and Pearson's correlation analysis were performed for elucidating the relationship between airway microbiota and post-LT outcomes.Results:From 2015 to 2019, 88 recipients were recruited and 992 strains of airway pathogens were isolated, including bacteria 796 strains and fungi 196 strains.Gram-negative bacteria (704 strains) accounted for 88.4% of all bacteria.The detection rates of Gram-positive bacteria, Klebsiella pneumonia (Kp), Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Candida increased in 2019 than that in 2015 (8.2% vs. 5.3%, 13.6% vs. 13.2%, 33.2% vs. 17.5%, 6.5% vs. 5.3%, 26.6% vs. 20.2%). Drug resistance rate of Kp to imipenem was 68.18% in 2019 and drug resistance rate of Ab to imipenem 98.44%.The 3-year survival rate was 46.3% and 35.3% in drug-resistance positive and negative groups and the difference was insignificant ( P=0.410). Fourteen recipients were enrolled in 2020.Potential pathogenic bacteria could be detected in all donor samples.Five recipients carried the same bacteria and two died during 1-year follow-up.Nine recipients did not carry the donor-derived pathogens and two died during 1-year follow-up.The diversity of donor/recipient-derived airway microbiota (Shannon index) showed no correlation with the outcomes of 1-year follow-up by Pearson's correlation test. Conclusions:Gram-negative bacteria predominated in airway pathogens of recipients post-LT.The drug resistance rate to imipenem remained high.The donor/recipient-derived pathogen isolates showed no correlation with immediate outcomes post-LT.