Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery: Current Innovations and Clinical Outcomes

Dear Colleagues,

Minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery has transformed the management of cardiac and thoracic diseases by reducing surgical trauma while maintaining excellent procedural safety and long-term clinical outcomes. Over the past two decades, continuous advances in surgical instrumentation, endoscopic visualisation, robotic platforms, imaging technologies, and perioperative care have expanded the indications for minimally invasive approaches across a broad spectrum of procedures, including valve surgery, coronary revascularisation, thoracic aortic interventions, structural heart disease, and thoracic oncology. As healthcare systems increasingly focus on improving patient-centred outcomes, accelerating postoperative recovery, and optimising resource utilisation, minimally invasive surgery has become a key driver of innovation in modern cardiothoracic practice.

Despite these remarkable achievements, important challenges remain. Widespread implementation is often limited by technical complexity, the need for specialised training, learning-curve considerations, patient selection, and variability in institutional resources and expertise. At the same time, rapid developments in robotic surgery, hybrid procedures, artificial intelligence, enhanced imaging, digital technologies, and enhanced recovery pathways continue to redefine the field and create new opportunities for improving outcomes. High-quality clinical research, translational science, and multidisciplinary collaboration are therefore essential to establish best practice and guide the future evolution of minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances related to minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery, with particular emphasis on innovative surgical techniques, technological developments, perioperative management, clinical outcomes, and future directions.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS);
• Robotic-assisted cardiac and thoracic surgery;
• Endoscopic mitral and tricuspid valve surgery;
• Minimally invasive aortic valve surgery;
• Minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting (MIDCAB, MICS CABG, hybrid coronary revascularisation);
• Robotic coronary surgery;
• Hybrid structural heart interventions;
• Surgical and hybrid approaches to transcatheter valve therapies;
• Minimally invasive surgery for thoracic aortic disease;
• Thoracoscopic and robotic thoracic surgery;
• Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols in cardiothoracic surgery;
• Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and digital technologies in minimally invasive surgery;
• Advanced imaging, navigation, and surgical planning;
• Patient selection and risk stratification;
• Surgical education, simulation, learning curves, and competency assessment;
• Clinical outcomes, quality of life, and patient-reported outcome measures;
• Cost-effectiveness and health economics of minimally invasive surgery;
• Anaesthetic and perioperative innovations;
• Novel devices and surgical technologies;
• Translational research supporting minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery;
• Future perspectives and emerging technologies in cardiothoracic surgery.

Dr. Lucchese Gianluca
Dr. David Rose
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery
• robotic cardiac surgery
• enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS)
• clinical outcomes
• endoscopic cardiac surgery
• hybrid cardiovascular interventions
• cardiothoracic surgical innovation
• structural heart disease