The first successful human lung transplant was done in 1983 by the Toronto Lung Transplant Group. Thirty years have passed since this landmark operation and more than 15,000 lung transplants have been done. Lung transplantation is now the preferred treatment…
The prospect of improving the debilitating symptoms of advanced pulmonary emphysema has long attracted the interest of thoracic surgeons. Previous surgical approaches such as costochondrectomy, phrenic crush, pneumoperitoneum, pleural abrasion, lung denervation, and thoracoplasty have largely fallen out of favor.…
The development of techniques to treat complications of infectious lung disease formed the cornerstone of modern thoracic surgery, dominating the specialty until approximately 1960. Although advances in critical care, antibiotic therapy, and other alternative treatments have lessened the impact of…
Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a group of more than 200 clinical entities that manifest with chronic, progressive, diffuse inflammation of the pulmonary interstitium. This inflammatory process can result from a primary pulmonary process, or it can be the result…
Definition and Incidence Benign lesions of the lung are rare. A benign lung nodule is difficult to define and classify because some lesions that are called benign have malignant properties. However, the best definition of a benign lesion is one…
Various congenital abnormalities involve the pulmonary system. Some of these result in arrested development and stillbirth. Some infants survive delivery only to die shortly thereafter. Neonates with severe anomalies typically display dyspnea and cyanosis at birth. Older children with less…
A variety of benign and malignant lesions can develop in the trachea and lead to airway obstruction. The infrequent occurrence of tracheal pathology and its frequently insidious nature can lead to a delayed diagnosis for patients in whom these conditions…
The earliest recorded reference to thoracic trauma is found in The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, written around 3000 bc . In this report of 58 cases, three were related to the chest: a penetrating injury to the cervical esophagus, a…
The first recorded bronchoscopic intervention is attributed to Gustav Killian, who in 1897 used an esophagoscope to remove a piece of pork bone from a patient's right mainstem bronchus. A few decades later, Chevalier Jackson, now known as the father…
Endoscopy, especially fiberoptic endoscopy, has revolutionized nearly all theaters of medicine in terms of diagnosis and therapeutic intervention. This revolution is particularly true for thoracic surgery, where bronchoscopy and esophagoscopy are essential modalities in the diagnosis, approach, and treatment of…