The articles in this issue address psychosocial and quality of life concerns for patients who have undergone thoracic surgery. Topics include changes in quality of life after pulmonary resection; impact of minimally invasive thoracic surgery on quality of life; psychosocial aspects of lung transplantation; and physical, cognitive and emotional dysfunctions resulting from intensive care.

The aim of this issue is to provide the thoracic surgeon with information about the staging and treatment of cancer to the mediastinal lymph nodes. The issue includes articles on the anatomy and physiology of the lymph nodes, imaging of the lymph nodes, and various techniques for diagnosing and dissecting the lymph nodes, including video-assisted mediastinoscopic lymphadenectomy and transcervical extended mediastinal lymphadenectomy.

This issue reviews the indications and procedures for surgery in patients with localized pulmonary infection. It includes articles on TB, pulmonary abscesses, fungal infections, and other entities.

This issue highlights management issues surrounding specific subjects within the clinical practice of thoracic surgery. The articles represent areas of thoracic surgery where there may be controversy, lack of consensus, or evolution. Each author summarizes the available literature with the addition of his or her own personal expertise.

In this issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics, Guest Editor Farid Shamji brings considerable expertise to the topic of Lung Cancer in this second issue covering this topic. Top experts in the field cover key topics such as biological treatments, improving anesthesia safety in pulmonary resection for lung cancer, history of surgical instruments in thoracic surgery, The Hemithorax – the empty chest syndrome, and more. - Provides in-depth, clinical reviews on lung cancer, providing actionable insights for clinical practice. - Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field; Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create these timely topic-based reviews. - Contains 16 relevant, practice-oriented topics including Assessment of Operability and Resectability in Lung Cancer; Complications of chest wall resection in conjunction with pulmonary resection; Sepsis in the postpneumonectomy space: pathogenesis, recognition and management; Neuroendocrine cancers of the lung: natural history, pathological classification, biological behaviour and treatment; and more.

This issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics, Guest Edited by Drs. Jean Deslauriers, F.G. Pearson, and Farid Shamji, is devoted to surgery and chemotherapy for lung cancer. This issue was written as a tribute to Dr. Robert J. Ginsberg, and will include articles on: Contemporary results of surgical resection of NSCLC after induction therapy; Prediction of operative morbidity and mortality before operation; Limited resection for small diameter tumors; Management of tumors involving the chest wall, including Pancoast tumors and tumors invading the spine; Role of surgery in patients with clinical N2 disease; Reconstruction of the bronchus and pulmonary artery; Current status of systematic lymph node dissection versus lymph node sampling; Intraoperative nodal staging: Role of sentinel node technology; Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in early stage tumors; Palliative resection; Adjuvant chemotherapy after pulmonary resection for lung cancer; Targeted therapy and new anti-cancer drugs in advanced disease; Biologic approaches to drug selection and targeted therapies; Cost effective methods for follow-up after lung cancer surgery; Quality of life after pulmonary resection; and Principles of palliative care.

This issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics covers the screening for and diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. Expert authors review the most current information available about fluorescence and navigational bronchoscopy, integrated PET/CT for mediastinal nodal staging, contraindications to pulmonary resection, approach to patients with multiple lung nodules, and more. Keep up-to-the-minute with the latest developments in this important aspect of thoracic surgery practice.

In this issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics, guest editor Farid Shamji brings considerable expertise to the topic of Lung Cancer. Provides in-depth, clinical reviews on Lung Cancer, providing actionable insights for clinical practice. Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field; Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create these timely topic-based reviews.

This issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics of North America, guest edited by Dr. Sharon Ben-Or, is devoted to Thoracic Surgery in the Special Care Patient. Dr. Ben-Or has assembled expert authors to review the following topics: Thoracic surgery in the pregnant patient; Thoracic surgery in early stage small cell lung cancer; Lung cancer in the post transplant / immunosuppressed patient; The postpneumonectomy patient; Thoracic surgery considerations in the obese patient; Thoracic surgery considerations in the pediatric patient; Esophagectomy after weight reduction surgery; Thoracic surgery considerations in the mentally ill or handicapped patient; Lung cancer with concomitant cardiac disease; Malignant pleural effusion and the trapped lung; Empyema from an obstructing lung cancer; Synchronous esophageal and lung cancer; Thoracic surgery considerations in the AIDS patient; and more!

In this issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics, guest editors Drs. Jasleen Kukreja and Aida Venado bring their considerable expertise to the topic of Lung Transplantation. Top experts in the field cover key topics such as inpatient management of the acutely decompensating lung transplant candidate, lung allograft rejection, management of the potential lung donor, postoperative management of lung transplant recipients, and more. - Contains a variety of relevant, practice-oriented topics including donation after circulatory death; lung transplant for ARDS; centralized organ recovery and reconditioning centers; infectious complications in lung transplantation; anesthetic management during lung transplantation; and more. - Provides in-depth clinical reviews on lung transplantation, offering actionable insights for clinical practice. - Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create clinically significant, topic-based reviews.