Preface to the 4th International Uniportal VATS Course—Special Issue
This three-day-masterclass symposium was jointly organized by the University Hospital Charité in Berlin (Germany), the University Hospital in Coruña (Spain), and the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai (China). This year, symposium addressed the “Challenges Ahead” in uniportal VATS by lectures, discussions and video sessions on the first day and Live Surgery of major pulmonary resections via uniportal VATS on the second day. The third day was dedicated to a Hands-on class (Wetlab) for a limited group.
The 4th International Uniportal VATS took place successfully in Campus Charité Mitte (CCM), Berlin (Germany) from March 2nd to 4th 2017 and gathered many well known thoracic surgeons that worked jointly to improve the development and spread of uniportal VATS technique. More than 140 participants from different countries attended the course.
It was a great pleasure and a privilege for us to act as co-editors for the special issue of the Journal of Thoracic Disease, which was dedicated to the 4th edition of the course. Our selection covers several topics about challenges in performing uniportal VATS. It also provides an overview of the state of the art of uniportal-VATS surgery.
We also would like to welcome you to the next meeting in 2018 which will take place at Villa Bergmann, Ernst von Bergmann Academic Hospital of the Humboldt-Universität Berlin Charité in Potsdam, Germany.
We hope that all the information collected in the present issue will be interesting and useful not only for the experts in the field but also for trainees who are taking their first steps in this amazing and expanding world of uniportal-VATS surgery.
Acknowledgements
None.
