CHENGDU. From November 26, 2017, to December 1, 2017, the Department of Thoracic Surgery at West China Hospital (WCH) hosted the “West China International Advanced Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) Course” (European class). President Li Weimin and Vice President Liu Lunxu attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Six senior thoracic surgeons from overseas institutions, including John Radcliffe Hospital of Oxford University, University Hospital Freiburg, Erasmus Medical Center, Sheffield Teaching Hospital, Medisch Centrum Alkmaar, and Laurentius Ziekenhuis, attended the training course.

During the one-week training, Dr. Liu Lunxu led the minimally invasive thoracic surgery instructor team to hold a full-length English course for trainees from Europe. The team taught the trainees the single-direction thoracoscopic lobectomy technique employed at WCH and the single-direction thoracoscopic segmentectomy extended on this basis, robotic lobectomy, complex lung cancer thoracoscopic surgery, complicated thoracoscopic treatment strategies and thoracoscopic massive hemorrhage treatment strategies, as well as minimally invasive esophageal cancer surgery, among other procedures. Besides the theoretical teaching, trainees were also invited to visit the operating room to observe VATS lung cancer surgeries performed by Professor Liu Lunxu. Following daily surgical demonstrations, the participants gathered together to discuss questions with the lecturers and teachers in order to develop a deeper understanding of thoracoscopic technology. In addition, according to the specific interests of the trainees, they were invited to participate in chest radiography, morning visitations, operation case discussions and complex case discussions. Trainees had the unique opportunity to learn about the full range of the thoracic surgery process at West China Hospital, including surgical indication, perioperative management strategy, database construction and clinical trial development experience. The esophageal surgery team, robotic surgery team, and the Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) team also introduced trainees to the minimally invasive esophageal cancer surgery technique, esophageal anastomosis technique, robotics and lung cancer surgery, as well as the ERAS program.

After five days of intensive training, all the trainees completed their coursework successfully. Dr. Liu Lunxu awarded a West China Minimally Invasive Thoracoscopic Training Certificate to each of the trainees, who expressed their deep appreciation for the team of thoracic surgeons led by Dr. Liu Lunxu. The trainees said that WCH’s minimally invasive thoracoscope technology is leading in the world, making complicated thoracoscopic surgery simple and easy to learn. They stressed that what they had learned would not only enable them to perform surgeries, but to perform them well. They are determined to bring the technology back to Europe for the benefit of their European patients.

This is the first time in the history of WCH that doctors from developed countries come to systematically study clinical technology with our surgeons. Further, this demonstrates the international influence of minimally invasive thoracic surgery of WCH. Sichuan TV, West China Metropolis Daily, Chengdu TV, Chengdu Daily, the Medicine Field website and other media outlets ran full-length reports on the entire training course.