On December 14, 2017, Professor Kostas Papagiannopoulos, President of European Society of Thoracic Surgeons, clinical director of Department of Thoracic Surgery of Hospital of University of Leeds and president of the Institute of Oncology of St. James’s Hospital, came to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University upon invitation for academic visit.

Professor Papagiannopoulos is a famous thoracic surgeon and proficient in minimally invasive therapies of lung cancer and esophageal cancer and lung transplantation-related fields with a high international reputation and wide influence. Through the one-day field visit and exchanges, he had a better understanding of our hospital.

Part I Field visit to the department and in-depth teaching and ward round

On the morning of the visit day, after hearing the introduction of three special cases and report of proposed operation plans, Professor Papagiannopoulos shared the valuable clinical experience of European thoracic surgery academic circle in segmentectomy, radical operation of lung cancer assisted by Leonardo’s robot and complex second primary esophageal carcinoma-related diagnosis and therapy fields. He pointed out that the standardized therapy of thoracic diseases is the foundation for patients to obtain the maximum survival benefits.

Then, in the company of Director Fu Junke, Professor Papagiannopoulos made a clinical teaching and ward round for a patient of 83 years old after esophageal cancer surgery, a patient after single lung transplantation operation, a patient after sleeve-type radical operation of lung cancer and a patient with primary pulmonary hypertension waiting for transplantation.

Part II Observation of surgery

Professor Kostas Papagiannopoulos visited Operation Room andAnesthesiaDepartment in our hospital, and highly praised the management process, informatization management and other aspects of the Operation Room. Then, he observed a resection of apical segment of upper lobe of right lung assisted by Leonardo’s robot and a thoracoscopic radical operation of upper lobe cancer of right lung. During these operations, Director Fu Junke, Deputy Director Zhang Guangjian and he had heated discussions on incision location in Leonardo’s robot thoracic operation, intersegment plane determination of segmentectomy, lymphnode dissection range and other questions in dispute. After these operations, Professor Papagiannopoulos and surgeons of Department 1 of Thoracic Surgery had in-depth discussions and exchanges on specific skills of thoracoscope and Leonardo’s robot operation.

Part III Learning and exchange

Firstly, Vice President Ma Xiancang introduced the 60 years of development history and discipline development process of our hospital to Professor Papagiannopoulos, and expressed the wish to have further cooperation and exchanges between the University of Leeds and the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University in terms of thoracic surgery diagnosis and therapy technologies, scientific research cooperation, staff exchanges, etc.

Secondly, Professor Kostas Papagiannopoulos introduced the organizational structure, functions, management and training of young surgeons and other aspects of European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS). And then, he gave a speech titled “The latest research on segment and sublobe of lung in Europe”, which aroused huge responses and heated discussions. He recommended that our hospital could learn from the experience of domestic and foreign top transplantation centers and make more academic exchanges on receptor screening and donor access channel. Then, Director Fu Junke introduced the development history and current situation of Department 1 of Thoracic Surgery, and other doctors reported on the existing sub-disciplines of lung, esophagus, mediastinum, lung transplantation and rapid recovery, respectively.

Director Fu Junke expressed heartfelt thanks to Professor Kostas Papagiannopoulos for visiting the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University. He hoped a long-term exchange and operation platform could be established under further cooperation with the University of Leeds St. James’s Hospital to make out hospital more modern and internationalized, so as to serve the patients better.