Introduction: 2017 Taiwan Association of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery
This special issue of the Journal of Thoracic Disease (JTD) represents 35 distinguished oral presentations that have been accepted in the field of Thoracic Surgery dedicated to the 16th annual meeting and conference of Taiwan Association of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery.
As time flies, it has been 31 years since the Taiwan Association of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery (TATCS) was established. During this conference, there are free submissions from all over Taiwan, as well as the Young-Investigator-Award and the President-Award-Lectures that were elected from the Academic Committee. In the field of Thoracic Surgery, we congratulated the following winners: the Young-Investigator-Award for Cheng-Che Tu from Chang Bing Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Shun-Mao Yang from National Taiwan University Hospital, Hsin-Chu Branch and Yu-Wei Liu from Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital; President-Award-Lectures for Po-Kuei Hsu from Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Mong-Wei Lin from National Taiwan University Hospital and Yin-Kai Chao from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou. In the field of Cardiovascular Surgery, we congratulated the following winners: the Young-Investigator-Award for Hsiang-Yu Yang from Tri-Service General Hospital, Hsiu-An Lee and Yu-Ting Cheng from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou; President-Award-Lectures for Shu-Chien Huang from National Taiwan University Hospital, Shao-Wei Chen from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou and Chao-Han Lai from National Cheng Kung University Hospital.
In the Section of Keynote Speech, we have specially invited Professor Mingyon Mun, Associate Professor Yasushi Shintani and Professor Suzuki Kenji who are specialized in the field of Thoracic Surgery. In the field of Cardiovascular Surgery, we have invited Dr. Taweesak Chotivatanapong. With their special participation, and sharing of the novels, we believe there will be plenty of inspirations and sparkles during the meeting.
In addition, to promote the surgical skills, we have organized a workshop with the sponsors. Taking this chance, young doctors could practice and simulate the surgical procedures with animal organs.
Finally, we are deeply indebted to all the authors, who contributed to the realization of this Abstract Issue. Furthermore, we would like to show the gratitude for all the attendees and who have been showing great supports to us over the years. And thanks to all the staffs, chairmen, speakers and sponsors, without your assistance, we could not have finished this fabulous meeting.
Acknowledgements
None.