Second surgery: surgical approach for metachronous lung cancer and surgical tips for postoperative complications of lung resection

With the widespread use of computed tomography and improved diagnostic imaging techniques, the number of early primary lung cancer, mainly ground-glass nodules, is increasing. As a result, limited surgery for early-stage primary lung cancer is becoming more common. Additionally, surgery for metastatic lung tumors has also proven effective for some carcinomas, and surgeries for these metastatic tumors is also on the rise. Thus, surgical resection for these primary lung cancers and metastatic lung tumors have become a standardized procedure. While surgical outcomes are improving, new clinical situations are emerging, such as treatment for metachronous second cancers in the case of primary lung cancer; and treatment for other lesions or central lesions in the case of metastatic lung tumors.

Although the number of lung resections has increased and the procedures have been standardized, some patients still experience postoperative complications. Recovery shots for complications also tend to be more difficult. It is tempting for thoracic surgeons to have better skills in performing such reoperations.

In this special series of Shanghai Chest, titled “Second Surgery”, we focus on secondary surgery for primary lung cancer and metastatic lung tumors, as well as surgical tips for complications.

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Shanghai Chest for the series “Second Surgery”. The article did not undergo external peer review.

Conflicts of Interest: Both authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://shc.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/shc-22-55/coif). The series “Second Surgery” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. TY served as the unpaid Guest Editor of the series and serves as an unpaid editorial board member of Shanghai Chest. HI served as the unpaid Guest Editor of the series. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement:The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

Tomohiro Yazawa

Hitoshi Igai