Video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is a kind of minimally invasive surgery. With the aid of thoracoscope and television images, only a few tiny incisions can be made to complete the surgery that used to be done by cutting large wounds. It has the advantages of small trauma, beautiful appearance, fast postoperative recovery and short average hospitalization days, which cannot be compared with ordinary open-heart surgery. The most common thoracoscopic procedures include lung tissue biopsy, lung nodular lesion excision, pulmonary herpes excision, pleural resection and biopsy, abscess chest treatment, pulmonary adhesions, mediastinal tumor resection, sympathectomy and pericardial window opening. Some of the more complex thoracic procedures can also be done electively with thoracoscopic surgery or with thoracoscopic-assisted opening, including cardia spasm release to more complex lobectomies or total pneumonectomies and esophagectomies.