I. What is the incidence of lung cancer? Lung cancer is an increasingly serious threat to human health. According to the information released by the World Health Organization, the number of lung cancer incidence is about 1.2 million/year and the number of deaths is about 1.1 million/year in the past 10 years, which is the most important cancer in the world. Lung cancer ranks first in the order of tumors among urban residents in China, and also takes the first place among tumor deaths; the rate of increase is also the fastest in rural areas. It is expected that by 2025, the annual number of lung cancer cases in China will exceed 1 million, and will become the world’s number one lung cancer country. II. How traditional lung cancer surgery is done The standard operation style of traditional lung cancer surgery is the posterior-lateral incision of the chest: it is about 20-30 cm long, and multiple layers of muscles in the back of the chest have to be cut and one rib has to be removed. This incision provides sufficient surgical field to meet the needs of the vast majority of lung cancer surgeries, so it continues to be used until now. However, this incision requires severing multiple large muscles of the chest wall, which is traumatic, bleeding, tedious to open and close the chest, and takes a long time. After the surgery, patients often have difficulty in lifting their upper limbs, and some of them may have sequelae such as “frozen shoulder”. Because of the destructive nature of this surgery, some older patients with poor lung function have lost the opportunity to undergo surgery because they cannot tolerate the surgery, so this traditional surgery has basically been eliminated. How to do thoracoscopic lung cancer surgery Thoracoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive surgical technique developed in recent years. Patients can get out of bed on the first day after surgery and can be discharged in 6-8 days. This procedure has the advantages of light pain, no blood transfusion, small and concealed wound, etc. The efficacy is satisfactory and popular among patients. What are the advantages of thoracoscopic treatment of lung cancer? On the premise of achieving radical oncological treatment as well, the trauma is far less than that of traditional incision. (1) Since the large muscles of the chest are not cut off, the ribs are not cut off or propped up, and the scapula is not pulled, the muscles and bones of the locomotor system are not traumatized and the function of shoulder joint activities is less affected and recovered quickly. (2)It avoids the pulling apart of the ribs and does not cut off the ribs, which reduces the pressure on the nerves and avoids the friction of the broken ends of the ribs, and the patient’s postoperative pain is significantly reduced compared with the traditional incision. (3) Thoracoscopic surgery can maintain and improve patients’ quality of life with less damage to their postoperative lung function, which is clinically important for the elderly and patients with poor lung function who have difficulty in undergoing thoracic surgery, and is also conducive to further comprehensive treatment such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy as early as possible after surgery. V. Which lung cancer patients can choose thoracoscopic surgery The current consensus is that the lung tumor should be relatively small (generally <5cm); peripheral type lung cancer; no obvious mediastinal lymph node enlargement; and no adhesions in the pleural cavity. Thoracoscopic radical lung cancer surgery can achieve the same treatment effect as traditional open-chest surgery, and has the advantages of less trauma, faster recovery, less postoperative pain, less bleeding and blood transfusion, shorter open-chest closure time, and less impact on cardiopulmonary function.