Foreword to Venous Surgery of the Mediastinum

Thoracic surgeons frequently encounter the great veins in the mediastinum. Large mediastinal masses or lung cancers which invade the superior vena cava or innominate veins pose a particular challenge. While these tumors were considered unresectable in the past, en bloc resection with reconstruction of the mediastinal veins can now be performed safely. Successfully performing these surgeries requires extensive knowledge of mediastinal anatomy, careful patient selection and workup, and consideration of the appropriate reconstruction and conduit material.

This special series on Venous Surgery of the Mediastinum will present several concise reviews on topics pertinent to the veins of the mediastinum. The anatomy of the mediastinum and common variants will be reviewed along with the drainage of the brain. Cannulation techniques and intraoperative bypass strategies will be discussed followed by reviews of large en bloc resections and the reconstruction options available. Finally, the last review will discuss chylopericardium, a rare condition which can occur after cardiothoracic surgery and with certain lymphatic diseases. We hope that this series will serve as a useful single resource on mediastinal great veins.

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Mediastinum for the series “Venous Surgery of the Mediastinum”. The article did not undergo external peer review.

Conflicts of Interest: Both authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://med.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/med-21-55/coif). The series “Venous Surgery of the Mediastinum” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. MTJ served as the unpaid Guest Editor of the series and serves as an unpaid editorial board member of Mediastinum from June 2020 to May 2022. ALD served as the unpaid Guest Editor of the series. 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/.

Michael T. Jaklitsch

Ashley L. Deeb