### Departmental Honors - First batch of National Key Clinical Specialties - Lung Cancer Academic Lead Team of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases - Lung Cancer Academic Lead Team of the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases - Chair Unit of the Thoracic Surgery Branch of Guangdong Medical Association - First Chair Unit of the Thoracic Surgeons Branch of Guangdong Medical Doctor Association - Key Discipline of Guangdong Province - Key Discipline of Guangzhou City - First Prize of Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award in 2014 ### Talent Team The team includes: 1 Young and Middle-aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions from the Ministry of Health, 1 Expert receiving Special Government Allowance from the State Council, 1 Central Healthcare Expert, 1 talent from Guangdong Province's "Thousands, Hundreds, Tens" Talent Training Program, 1 Young Expert with Outstanding Contributions from Guangdong Province, 1 Outstanding Young Talent of Guangdong Province, 1 Pearl River New Star of Guangzhou City, 10 Attending Physicians with Senior Professional Titles, 6 Attending Physicians with Associate Senior Professional Titles, 2 Associate Researchers, 10 Resident Physicians, 5 Intern Physicians, and 1 Pharmacist. Among them, many experts are key members or leaders of national, provincial, or municipal thoracic surgery societies. There is 1 Doctoral Supervisor and 5 Master's Supervisors. ### Featured Technologies **(1) Screening and Diagnosis of Early-Stage Lung Cancer:** Professor He Jianxing and his team possess extensive experience in image reading. They can detect early and very early precancerous lesions through non-invasive lung cancer screening and early diagnosis methods such as imaging examinations. Using surgery as the primary treatment, supplemented by targeted radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy, the cure rate for early-stage lung cancer reaches nearly 80%. For some very early GGO (Ground-Glass Opacity) and early precancerous lesions, the cure rate can even reach 95%, with rapid recovery. **Early-stage lung cancer screening methods:** Low-dose spiral CT plain scan; Plasma cell-free DNA detection; Lung cancer-specific antibody CTC detection. **(2) Comprehensive Strategy for Individualized Minimally Invasive Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment:** Professor He Jianxing pioneered the concept of "tailoring treatment to the individual and the disease," gradually establishing a full-chain individualized minimally invasive lung cancer diagnosis and treatment system covering pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative phases. This system includes individualized incisions, precise resection, highly selective anesthesia, lymph node tracing, and drainage tube management. It benefits over 95% of thoracic surgery patients, reduces post-operative complications by 40%, extends the average survival of lung cancer surgery patients by 3.5 months, and increases the rate of complete cure by 6%. To date, over 28,000 minimally invasive surgeries have been performed. **Covered diseases:** Pulmonary bullae, Thymoma, Tracheal tumors, Surgical treatment of early-stage lung cancer, Surgical treatment of advanced-stage lung cancer, Surgical treatment of lung cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, Surgical treatment of central-type lung cancer. **(3) Post-operative Prognosis Risk Assessment for Early-Stage Lung Cancer:** In 2012, Professor He Jianxing established the world's first gene-based prediction system for post-operative prognosis risk in lung cancer, accurately predicting the post-operative survival of patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. This result was published in the internationally renowned medical journal *The Lancet*, representing the highest-level academic paper published in the field of thoracic surgery in China. Subsequently, Professor He Jianxing's team established a Nomogram prediction system based entirely on clinical data, which was also published in the internationally renowned medical journal *Journal of Clinical Oncology*. **Covered diseases:** Comprehensive treatment plans for post-operative lung cancer. **(4) Lung Transplantation Technology:** As the only unit in South China approved by the Ministry of Health for lung transplantation qualifications, Professor He Jianxing's team has successfully completed 216 lung transplants, 1 tracheal transplant, and 8 heart-lung transplants to date, with remarkable results: - In 1999, completed the first allogeneic tracheal transplant in the Asia-Pacific region, making China the third country after the United States and Canada to perform such surgery. The patient achieved good survival benefits and excellent quality of life. - In 2003, successfully completed the first allogeneic lung transplant in South China. - The longest surviving lung transplant recipient in China (14 years). - The oldest lung transplant recipient internationally (81 years old). - Successfully performed a reversal transplant after the patient had been on continuous ventilator support for over 6 months pre-operatively; the patient has survived for over 3 years. - Successfully performed a transplant on a critically ill patient who was on continuous ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) support pre-operatively. **(5) Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) and Day Surgery:** In 2014, Professor He Jianxing's team pioneered the concept of "Tubeless Minimally Invasive Surgery" (no tracheal intubation, no chest drainage tube, no urinary catheter), revolutionizing some thoracic surgeries into day surgeries (admission and discharge within 24 hours). **Covered diseases:** Palmar hyperhidrosis, Pulmonary bullae, Thymoma, GGO, Lung cancer or pulmonary nodules > 1cm. ### Scientific Research Achievements The Thoracic Surgery Department is the academic lead team for the Lung Cancer Group of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases and the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases. In 2010, it jointly established the China-US Joint Laboratory for Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer with the University of California, San Francisco. In 2013, it jointly established the Lung Cancer Genomics Joint Laboratory with BGI. To date, the research directions have focused on the construction of tumor resource biobanks, tumor molecular biology research, tumor risk and prognosis model research, research on the mechanisms of tumor occurrence and development, and tumor treatment strategies. The department has received 6 grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 3 project grants from the Ministry of Health, 1 Outstanding Youth Fund from Guangdong Province, and 18 provincial-level projects in Guangdong. It has won 1 First Prize and 2 Second Prizes of the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award. It has filed 23 invention patent applications (including 3 international patents) and 28 utility model patent applications. It has been granted 8 invention patents and 17 utility model patents. The team has edited 11 textbooks related to thoracic surgery. To date, a total of 206 SCI papers have been published in internationally renowned journals such as *The Lancet* and *JCO*, with an impact factor of 944.572. In 2009, the international academic journal *Journal of Thoracic Disease* was founded. It was indexed in PubMed in 2010 and included in SCI in 2012, becoming the first specialized journal in South China to be indexed by both PubMed and SCI. In 2015, the SCI journal *Annals of Translational Medicine* was founded and was indexed in PubMed in the same year. In 2015, the first Chinese-English monograph on lung cancer in the era of precision medicine was compiled. ### Major Milestones - **1994:** Concurrently performed thoracoscopic radical lung cancer surgery domestically and internationally. - **1994:** First reported case series of thoracoscopic radical lung cancer surgery in China, published in the *Chinese Journal of Surgery*. - **1996:** Achieved the world's largest single-center series of thoracoscopic radical lung cancer surgeries; article published in the *Chinese Journal of Surgery*. - **1996:** Performed the first thoracoscopic lung volume reduction surgery in China, recognized as one of the 50 major events in Chinese surgical history. - **1996:** Pioneered needle thoracoscopic surgery in China. - **1996:** Pioneered thoracoscopic hybrid technology in China to replace traditional large-incision surgery, gradually achieving full coverage for radical lung cancer surgery. Hybrid technology facilitated the comprehensive promotion of early thoracoscopic techniques. - **1999:** Completed the first allogeneic tracheal transplant in the Asia-Pacific region. - **2003:** Completed the first allogeneic lung transplant in South China. - **2007:** Established the Asia-Pacific Lung Cancer Tumor Biobank, which has collected over 80,000 samples to date. - **2009:** Founded the *Journal of Thoracic Diseases*. - **2010:** Founded the Thoracic Surgeons Branch of Guangdong Medical Doctor Association and served as the first chair unit. - **2011:** Initiated thoracoscopic surgery under spontaneous breathing anesthesia. - **2012:** Introduced intratumoral radiotherapy technology to achieve overall minimally invasive treatment. - **2012:** *Journal of Thoracic Diseases* was indexed in PubMed. - **2012:** Founded *Annals of Translational Medicine*, the first international translational medicine journal in China. - **2013:** Completed the world's first total thoracoscopic tracheal carina resection and reconstruction, achieving full coverage of thoracic surgery with total thoracoscopic techniques. - **2013:** Completed the world's first total thoracoscopic sleeve resection under spontaneous breathing anesthesia. - **2014:** Completed the world's first tracheal carina resection and reconstruction under spontaneous breathing anesthesia, achieving full coverage of thoracoscopic surgery under spontaneous breathing anesthesia. - **2014:** Summarized experience to form the "Individualized Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment System for Lung Cancer," winning the First Prize of Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award. - **2014:** *Journal of Thoracic Disease* received its first Impact Factor of