Personalized Approaches in Cardiothoracic Surgery

Dear Colleagues,

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and persist as a significant global health challenge. The concept of personalized medicine, maximizing benefits and improving patients’ outcomes, has evolved over the last few decades. Consequently, personalized cardiothoracic surgery represents a meticulous approach applying surgical techniques tailored to suit the patient’s specific needs and individual attributes. Heart surgery has, especially, undergone tremendous evolution with some of the greatest accomplishments in the history of medicine, resulting in an operative mortality as low as 1%–3% in elective cardiac surgical patients. However, relying on a standardized or universally applicable surgical approach and adhering to an evidence-based one-size-fits-all, or ready-made surgical technique may not lead to the most favorable outcomes. In clinical everyday practice, we observe a shift from the standard classic operations to a new era of minimally invasive surgery—including smaller incisions, off-pump, hybrid surgeries, as well as procedures supported by robotics and technical advances such as 3D-printing, integration of artificial intelligence, and advanced real-time imaging. The modern cardiothoracic surgeon, apart from being a quick problem-solver and efficient decision-maker, has to overcome new challenges in the constantly transforming landscape of cardiovascular and thoracic diseases. On the other hand, while it is important to recognize the promise and potential of a patient-individualized approach, it is also essential to debate whether the proposed outstanding goals are realistic. Will we socioeconomically be able to treat each patient individually? Should patients’ and physicians’ wishes for the ‘latest trend’ dominate the decision-making?

We invite all physicians, surgeons, and researchers with an interest in Cardiothoracic Surgery to contribute to this Special Issue entitled “Personalized Approaches in Cardiothoracic Surgery”. We welcome all information regarding cutting-edge developments, including novel clinical research findings, presentations of new technologies, and reviews of current and emerging therapeutic procedures. Our aim is to provide the readers with an update in this ever-changing landscape, as well as to discuss the future challenges in the topic.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery;
• Redo cardiothoracic surgery;
• Complex aortic surgery;
• Degeneration of bioprosthetic heart valves and management strategies;
• Cardiac surgery after TAVI or endovascular aortic procedures;
• Prosthetic endocarditis: management strategies;
• Surgical treatment of Heart Failure and Advances in mechanical circulatory support;
• Innovations in cardiopulmonary bypass management and myocardial protection;
• Robotic cardiothoracic surgery;
• Complex thoracic surgery;
• Oncologic thoracic surgery;
• Hybrid procedures;
• Newest guidelines in the treatment of cardiothoracic diseases;
• Perioperative treatment of cardiothoracic surgery patients: challenges and innovations.

Dr. Kyriakos Spiliopoulos
Dr. Dimos E. Karangelis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Personalized Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• minimal invasive cardiothoracic surgery
• complex cardiothoracic procedures
• redo surgery
• robotic cardiothoracic surgery
• AI in the treatment of cardiothoracic diseases
• guidelines of the treatment of cardiothoracic diseases
• education and training in cardiothoracic surgery
• perioperative management
• technical advancements, innovations, research