Abstract
Minimally invasive thoracic surgery is a field that is fueled by innovations and continues to advance at a rapid pace. Once per year, some of the most forward-thinking members of the cardiothoracic surgical community meet at the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery (ISMICS) Annual Scientific Meeting to share their latest work. The meeting is known to be an ideal platform to present progressive approaches and cutting edge minimally invasive surgical techniques, and this year was no exception.
The ISMICS 2023 Thoracic Track Program was a particular success. Now returning to a completely in-person format, the event had one of the highest attendances. The ISMICS 2023 Thoracic Track featured 74 presentations, including 46 expert talks, debates, and 28 oral abstract presentations with an international representation of speakers from 11 countries. Attendees had the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics. Experts shared video-assisted thoracoscopic and robot-assisted approaches to lung resections spanning from parenchyma-sparing sublobar resections to extended resections for advanced pathology. An animated debate offered insights on different minimally invasive techniques for lobectomy after immunotherapy. Effective medical treatments have been revolutionizing the field, and it was readily apparent that thoracic surgeons are embracing the challenge and are equipped to offer minimally invasive resections to treat lung cancer patients after preoperative therapy. The integration of artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies took center stage, showing the immense potential for improving precision and patient outcomes. The navigation, surgical planning, and virtual reality session showcased single anesthesia techniques that integrate robotic navigational bronchoscopy for diagnostics and lung nodule localization in combination with surgery to create patient-centric and accelerated treatment pathways. Pioneering work on ablative techniques and sentinel lymph node assessments received the appropriate attention and a lively discussion. In all, the Thoracic Track Program at ISMICS 2023 left participants not only informed but also inspired, underscoring the relentless commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in minimally invasive thoracic surgery.
This issue of Innovations contains the inaugural Focused Topic Series for general thoracic surgery that features abstracts presented at this year’s ISMICS Annual Scientific Meeting Thoracic Track Program. This series contains selected contributions from a group of authors who expand on their ISMICS presentations in these articles. The papers demonstrate the depth of the thoracic program, which includes papers on novel robotic port placement techniques for anatomic lung resection with access outside of the ribcage and progressive and patient-friendly robotic procedures for lung nodule localization. Furthermore, real-time augmented reality applications for chest wall resection and thoracoscopic techniques for sympathetic cardiac denervation are illustrated. Moving forward into 2024, we encourage presenters to continue to leverage this journal as a platform to disseminate their work presented at ISMICS and showcase the most innovative techniques in minimally invasive thoracic surgery.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all members of the ISMICS Thoracic Program Committee for their help in shaping the program and their contributions in making the meeting a success. We are grateful to the ISMICS past president Dr Vinod Thourani for the opportunity to serve as the program chairs. We greatly appreciate the Innovations Editor-in-Chief Dr Niv Ad and Managing Editor Dr Sari D. Holmes for their editorial support for this series.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Drs Kneuertz and Sceusi have received professional fees for proctoring and speaking services by Intuitive Surgical.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.