Imaging of Thoracic Diseases, An Issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics

Advanced imaging technology has greatly improved the practice of thoracic surgery in the past 35 years. Among many other benefits, the advances decreased the rate of futile thoracotomy for lung cancer from more than 20% in the 1970s to the current incidence of only a few percent. This issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics provides updates about recent advances in imaging of thoracic diseases, and will help practicing thoracic surgeons understand how to best frame requests so that optimally useful information emerges from an examination.