Marco Scarci¹, Kenney Hong², Lucine M. Gao²

1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, University College of London Hospitals, London, UK.

2 VATS Editorial Office, AME Publishing Company.

Correspondence to: Kenney Hong. VATS Editorial Office, AME Publishing Company. Email: vats@amegroups.com.

Editor’s Note

The aim of Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS)is to promote the development of video-assisted thoracic surgery around the world by providing a professional platform for the sharing of experience in video-assisted thoracic surgery between peers so that all patients may benefit. It publishes articles reporting the cutting-edge findings and application of video-assisted thoracic surgery and has published a number of special series in recent years, receiving overwhelming responses from academic readers around the world. Our success cannot be achieved without the contribution of our distinguished guest editors. Taking this opportunity, VATS launched a new series “Interviews with Guest Editors” this year to highlight our active contributors. We hope to express our heartfelt gratitude for their tremendous effort and to further uncover the stories behind the special series.

The special series “VATS Special Issue dedicated to the 4th international VATS Symposium 2017” (1) led by Prof. Marco Scarci (Figure 1) and Prof. Roberto Crisci and “Minimally Invasive Management of Infectious Pleuropulmonary Diseases” (2) led by Prof. Marco Scarci and Prof. Ilaria Righi have attracted numerous readers since they were published. The first special series summarised all the topics discussed during the 4th International VATS Symposium in London, and the second special series offered a compendium of management of infectious pleuropulmonary diseases. Hereby, we are honored to have an interview with Prof. Scarci to share his experience in thoracic surgery and his insights on this special series.

Figure 1 Prof. Marco Scarci

Expert Introduction

Prof. Scarci is a consultant thoracic surgeon at Imperial College NHS Healthcare in London UK. He moved recently back to the UK from Italy where he directed the thoracic surgery department at S. Gerardo Hospital in Monza.

Interview

VATS: As a reputable expert in thoracic surgery, what originally drove you into this field in the first place?

Prof. Scarci: I trained in cardiothoracic surgery and performed many cardiac procedures during my residency, but it is only when I started to explore more closely thoracic surgery that I fell in love with it. I like a lot the variety of cases, the different challenge of each cancer resection and the interaction with many colleagues from different specialties.

VATS: Many years have passed since the “Minimally Invasive Management of Infectious Pleuropulmonary Diseases” (2) special series published in 2018, could you briefly introduce the evolution of minimally invasive management of infectious pleuropulmonary diseases in recent years?

Prof. Scarci: I think that a lot more procedures are now performed by minimally invasive approach compared to 5 years ago. Surgeons became more confident, especially in uniportal VATS, and embraced the technique for all sort of procedures. Overall, I think patients benefitted greatly in the last 5 years. 

VATS: What is the role and future direction of video-assisted technique in the surgical management of infectious pleuropulmonary diseases?

Prof. Scarci: I think the technique is mature by now and widespread. I would not be surprised if complex decortications will be done routinely by robotic approach in a not so distant future. 

VATS: One of your areas of major interest is rehabilitation after thoracic surgery and clinical trials. What do you think of the role of ERAS in VATS and how about the current implementation of ERAS in clinical practice?

Prof. Scarci: I think that ERAS is now widely adopted in most large thoracic units, even if the actual implementation still varies greatly. In my opinion, we need more standardization of care and a better way to track surgeons that do not follow the protocol.

VATS: Can you tell us about any new and exciting projects you’re working on recently? What are you foresee as the next step in your research journey?

Prof. Scarci: At the moment I am working on a value base healthcare project and developing a dashboard of indicators to monitor real-time performance of surgical units. 

VATS: Which part of the content impressed you most in the “Minimally Invasive Management of Infectious Pleuropulmonary Diseases” (1) and “VATS Special Issue dedicated to the 4th international VATS Symposium 2017” (2) special series? What do you think is the unique advantage of these special series compared with other similar projects? 

Prof. Scarci: I think this offered a compendium of current issues for diseases that are not routinely encountered in the Western world. 

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form. The series “Interviews with Outstanding Guest Editors” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. KH and LMG report that they are full employees of AME Publishing Company. 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/.

Reference

1. VATS Special Issue dedicated to the 4th international VATS Symposium 2017. Available online: https://vats.amegroups.com/post/view/vats-special-issue-dedicated-to-the-4th-international-vats-symposium-2017.
2. Minimally Invasive Management of Infectious Pleuropulmonary Diseases. Available online: https://vats.amegroups.com/post/view/minimally-invasive-management-of-infectious-pleuropulmonary-diseases.