China's Top Departments: Thoracic Surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (Guangzhou)

For readers in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and worldwide: if you or a loved one is facing lung cancer, esophageal cancer, a mediastinal tumor or a chest wall tumor, the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC) in Guangzhou is one of the earliest-established and most comprehensive thoracic oncologic surgery centers in China.

About the Hospital

Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC) was founded in March 1964. Also known as the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and the SYSU Cancer Institute, it is one of the largest and most academically accomplished comprehensive cancer centers in China, and one of the four earliest-established cancer hospitals in the country. In the Fudan Institute of Hospital Management's 2023 China Hospital Rankings, the Center is rated A+++ overall and ranks No. 2 nationwide in the Oncology specialty ranking; it has repeatedly received the highest grade (A) for specialized cancer hospitals in China's national tertiary public hospital performance assessment.

• Grade: Tertiary (Class A) specialized hospital for oncology; Fudan 2023 overall rating A+++
• Academic platforms: National Key Discipline (Oncology); State Key Laboratory of South China Malignant Tumor Prevention and Treatment; National New Drug (Anticancer Drug) Clinical Trial Research Center; a designated hub for building the Guangdong International Cancer Medical Center
• Scale: Two campuses in operation (Yuexiu and Huangpu; Tianhe campus under construction), with 2,245 beds; 2.558 million outpatient/emergency visits and 222,000 inpatient admissions per year — among the highest volumes of any specialized cancer hospital in China
• Expertise: 3 Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3 Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 47 national-level talents; 231 doctoral supervisors and 334 master's supervisors
• International services: The SYSUCC International Medical Center opened in July 2026; the Center is a sister institution of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for oncology) and collaborates with the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), the University of Warwick (UK), the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Erasmus MC (the Netherlands). It has been a WHO Collaborating Centre for Cancer Research since 1980
• International academic standing: Ranked 5th among cancer centers worldwide in the 2024 Nature Index. It publishes the English-language journal Cancer Communications (impact factor 24.9, JCR Oncology Q1)

About the Department

The Department of Thoracic Surgery (listed as "Thoracic Department" on the Center's Chinese website; Chinese: 胸科) is one of the earliest-established thoracic oncologic surgery units in China and has become the most comprehensive thoracic oncologic surgery center in South China, with significant influence nationwide. It hosts the Vice Chairmanship of the Oncology Society of the Chinese Medical Association, the Executive Vice Presidency of the Thoracic Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, the Vice Chairmanship of the Esophageal Cancer Committee of the China Anti-Cancer Association, and the Chairmanship of the Guangdong Anti-Cancer Association's Esophageal Cancer Committee, and is the affiliated unit of the Sun Yat-sen University Lung Cancer Research Center.

The department has 4 wards, 1 thoracic endoscopy suite, and 144 beds, with over 70,000 outpatient visits, over 5,200 admissions, and over 4,900 operations per year. It treats all thoracic oncologic diseases of the lung, trachea, esophagus, mediastinum, pleura and chest wall, and was among the first in China to carry out multidisciplinary team (MDT) treatment of thoracic tumors — "standardized diagnosis and treatment" is its defining feature.

• Team: 38 physicians — 17 professors/chief physicians, 7 associate professors/associate chief physicians, 5 attending physicians, 9 physicians and 4 assistant physicians; 29 hold doctoral degrees and 7 master's degrees; 10 doctoral supervisors and 15 master's supervisors
• Research & teaching: More than 20 projects at various levels, including the "863" and "985" Programs, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Guangdong provincial science and technology programs and SYSU 5010 Clinical Medical Research projects; 38 SCI papers in the past 3 years, the highest with an impact factor of 18.96 (Journal of Clinical Oncology); 54 papers in domestic core journals

Academic Standing and Accreditations

• National Key Clinical Specialty: Designated a "National Key Clinical Specialty" by the Ministry of Health in 2011
• Fudan specialty ranking: Ranked No. 8 nationally in thoracic surgery in the Fudan Edition 2022 China Hospital Specialty Rankings (the host Center ranks No. 2 nationally in oncology reputation)
• Pioneer in standardized MDT: Among the first in China to carry out multidisciplinary treatment of thoracic tumors
• Host platforms: National Key Discipline (Oncology), State Key Laboratory of South China Malignant Tumor Prevention and Treatment, Sun Yat-sen University Lung Cancer Research Center
• Guideline influence: Prof. Fu Jianhua is a core member of the expert panel for the 2026 CSCO Esophageal Cancer Clinical Practice Guidelines and co-chaired its launch meeting

Core Technologies and Signature Treatments

1. Lung cancer — surgery and multidisciplinary treatment — More than 5,000 lung cancer operations performed since the department's founding; first in the province to apply tracheal/bronchial plasty, pulmonary artery plasty and partial left atrial resection in lung cancer surgery, and first to perform one-stage resection of bilateral lung tumors via median sternotomy and hand-assisted thoracoscopic resection of bilateral lung metastases. Complex procedures in the past 3 years: 70 sleeve lobectomies, 14 tracheobronchial sleeve resections, 7 carinal reconstructions, 11 tracheal sleeve resections, 8 superior vena cava prosthetic graft replacements and 17 completion pneumonectomies; a successful lung transplant was performed in 2005. Quality data: surgical complication rate of only 0.97% for thoracic tumor patients; 5-year survival of 39% for lung cancer patients after surgery
2. Esophageal cancer — surgery with three-field lymph node dissection (a signature strength at international level) — More than 4,000 esophageal cancer operations performed since the department's founding; first in the province to perform en bloc esophagectomy and esophageal stripping. Past 3 years: 74 Ivor-Lewis procedures, 310 three-incision two-field dissections and 101 three-incision three-field dissections, 13 colonic interposition grafts, 22 remnant gastric cancer resections and 12 jejunal interposition grafts; complication rate 4.39%. 5-year survival after three-field dissection reaches 50.9%, at an internationally advanced level
3. Mediastinal tumors — Mediastinoscopy markedly improves diagnostic yield; 52 resections of complex, giant mediastinal tumors in the past 3 years, with challenging procedures such as superior vena cava prosthetic grafting and partial atrial resection performed routinely; giant complex mediastinal masses in children are also treated
4. Chest wall tumors and reconstruction — First in the province to perform resection of giant chest wall tumors with "sandwich" chest wall reconstruction; holds multiple national patents in artificial ribs and artificial pleura; 85 chest wall tumor resections with reconstruction in the past 3 years
5. Diagnosis of difficult cases — The department is a national leader in the number of mediastinoscopy procedures for diagnosing difficult diseases; flexible thoracoscopy raises the diagnostic rate for difficult thoracic diseases to over 95%, guiding appropriate treatment
6. Robotic minimally invasive thoracic surgery (da Vinci) — Prof. Yang Haoxian, Deputy Director, specializes in da Vinci robotic thoracic tumor surgery and uniportal thoracoscopy. Complex cases include robotic resection of a 7 cm giant mediastinal tumor (incisions 0.8–1 cm, intraoperative blood loss about 10 ml, ambulation on postoperative day 1, discharge within days)
7. Organ/tissue reconstruction — Colonic and jejunal interposition in esophageal surgery; artificial chest wall materials (artificial ribs, artificial pleura) and clinical research on artificial organs

Expert Team

• Prof. Zhang Lanjun: Director Mentor of the department, Head of Ward 2, and Chief Expert for Lung Cancer (single-disease model); clinical and research interests include surgical treatment of thoracic tumors, innovative diagnosis of early-stage lung cancer, screening of molecular biomarkers for individualized lung cancer therapy, clinical application of artificial organs, and artificial chest wall reconstruction after wide resection
• Prof. Lin Peng: Director (Chair) of the department, Head of Ward 3 and Party Branch Secretary; specializes in the surgical and multidisciplinary treatment of esophageal and lung cancer, with particular focus on improving staging and standardizing lymph node dissection for esophageal cancer
• Prof. Yang Haoxian: Deputy Director and Head of Ward 4; chief physician, MD in oncology, doctoral supervisor; mentor for SYSU's 8-year medical program; national champion of the lung cancer surgery group at the 2017 China Minimally Invasive Surgery Elite Competition; recipient of the 2018 AATS/ESTS Graham Foundation Lung Cancer Distinguished Contribution Award; champion of the 2019 AATS Robot Workshop simulated robotic surgery; among Guangdong's first outstanding young medical talents; Chair of the Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Committee, Guangdong Thoracic Cancer Prevention and Research Association; specializes in da Vinci robotic thoracic surgery and uniportal thoracoscopy
• Prof. Rong Tiehua: Senior Chief Expert for Esophageal and Lung Cancer (single-disease model)
• Prof. Fu Jianhua: Chief Expert for Esophageal Cancer (single-disease model); core member of the 2026 CSCO Esophageal Cancer Guidelines expert panel and co-chair of its launch meeting; specializes in esophageal cancer research and non-vascular stent intervention for thoracic malignancies
• Prof. Long Hao: Chief Expert for Lung Cancer (single-disease model); specializes in multidisciplinary treatment of lung, esophageal and breast cancer, minimally invasive thoracic surgery and thoracoscopy
• Prof. Wang Junye: Deputy Director of the department, concurrently Director of Thoracic Surgery at the SYSUCC Gansu Hospital
• Prof. Yang Hong: Chief physician, concurrently Deputy Director of the Guangdong Esophageal Cancer Institute
• Other experts: Prof. Wang Siyu; chief physicians Wang Xin, Wen Zhesheng, Ma Guowei, Su Xiaodong, Zhang Xu, Hu Yi and Liu Qianwen; associate chief physicians Li Xiaodong, Yu Hui, Yang Han, Zhu Zhihua and Zhao Zerui

Conditions Treated (reference for international patients)

• Lung cancer: minimally invasive/robotic surgery for early-stage lung cancer; complex radical resections such as sleeve lobectomy, tracheobronchial sleeve resection, carinal reconstruction and pulmonary artery/partial left atrial resection; multidisciplinary treatment of lung cancer
• Esophageal cancer: three-incision two-field/three-field lymph node dissection, Ivor-Lewis procedure, colonic/jejunal interposition and remnant gastric cancer resection (5-year survival 50.9% after three-field dissection)
• Mediastinal tumors: resection of complex giant mediastinal tumors, superior vena cava prosthetic grafting, partial atrial resection, and giant complex mediastinal masses in children
• Chest wall tumors: resection of giant chest wall tumors with "sandwich" chest wall reconstruction
• Bilateral lung metastases: hand-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and one-stage resection of bilateral lung tumors via median sternotomy
• Difficult thoracic diseases: diagnosis and staging with mediastinoscopy, flexible thoracoscopy and E-BUS
• Patients with thoracic tumors seeking da Vinci robotic surgery or uniportal thoracoscopy for minimal trauma and rapid recovery

Address and Contact

• Yuexiu Campus (main): No. 651 Dongfeng East Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China — easily reached from Hong Kong West Kowloon by high-speed rail
• Huangpu Campus: No. 1 Kaiyang 5th Road, Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, Huangpu District, Guangzhou
• Website: www.sysucc.org.cn (English: english.sysucc.org.cn)
• International services: SYSUCC International Medical Center (opened July 2026) provides one-stop services for international patients; International Cooperation and Public Relations Office email: [email protected]

To explore more of SYSUCC's leading departments, see our spotlights on SYSUCC nasopharyngeal carcinoma, SYSUCC medical oncology and SYSUCC radiation oncology.

This information is compiled from the official website of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and public reports. It is for reference only; the hospital's latest official information shall prevail.