China's Top Departments: Thoracic Surgery at Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Medical University

If you or a family member is facing lung cancer, esophageal cancer, a tracheal (windpipe) disorder, or serious chest trauma, Tangdu Hospital's Department of Thoracic Surgery in Xi'an is one of the strongest destinations in China. For patients from Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the wider international community, the department combines 70+ years of specialty history with a National Key Discipline pedigree and technologies found almost nowhere else — including the hospital-level world-first tissue-engineered tracheal transplantation and China's first thoracoscopy-assisted rib resection with a 3D-printed titanium rib implant.

At Medora, we help international patients navigate treatment at China's leading thoracic centers. Here is what you need to know about Tangdu's thoracic surgery department.

About the Hospital

Tangdu Hospital — formally the Second Affiliated Hospital of the Air Force Medical University — is a Grade IIIA comprehensive hospital and one of the largest and strongest military-run general hospitals in Northwest China:

• History: Founded in 1939 as the Yan'an Central Hospital; publicly known as "Tangdu Hospital" since 1985; transferred to the Air Force in 2017.
• Scale: 241,000 m² of medical buildings, 3,251 inpatient beds, and 46 specialty departments, handling more than 2 million outpatient/emergency visits, 80,000 surgeries and 130,000 admissions per year.
• Platforms: 4 national key disciplines, 3 national key (cultivation) disciplines, military medical research institutes and specialty centers; 359 senior professionals and 180 doctoral/master's supervisors.
• Equipment: 7.0T MRI, PET/MR, a fourth-generation da Vinci surgical robot, high-dose-rate rotational intensity-modulated linear accelerator, and other advanced systems.
• Signature achievements: At hospital level, Tangdu performed the world's first "tissue-engineered tracheal transplantation for tracheal defects" and China's first "thoracoscopy-assisted resection of the left second rib with 3D-printed titanium rib implantation" — both directly relevant to this department's work.
• Location: No. 1 Xinsi Road, Baqiao District, Xi'an — about a 40-minute drive from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY). Xi'an, the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, offers direct flights to Central Asia, Southeast Asia and beyond.

About the Department

The Department of Thoracic Surgery is one of Tangdu's traditional strengths:

• Established in 1954, making it one of the longest-running thoracic surgery units in the region.
• Among the first group of departments approved for master's-degree training (1981) and doctoral training (1986); a constituent discipline of a post-doctoral research station since 1997.
• A National Key Discipline (thoracic and cardiovascular surgery) and a national "Project 211" key construction discipline since 1997.
• 22 physicians covering the full range of thoracic sub-specialties: lung cancer and lung diseases; esophageal and cardia diseases; mediastinal tumors; tracheal/airway surgery; chest-wall and pleural diseases; thoracic trauma.

Academic Standing

• National Key Discipline (thoracic and cardiovascular surgery)
• National "Project 211" key construction discipline since 1997
• First-tier degree-granting unit: master's since 1981, doctorate since 1986, post-doctoral station component since 1997
• Ranked No. 10 nationally in thoracic surgery in third-party (Fudan-style) rankings
• Rated No. 1 in thoracic surgery reputation in Northwest China

Core Technologies

Tracheal Surgery & Airway Reconstruction — A Hallmark

Tangdu is the hospital behind the world's first tissue-engineered tracheal transplantation for tracheal defects. The department has long tackled difficult airway conditions such as tracheomalacia:

• In 2016 it reported using a 3D-printed external tracheal stent to suspend and widen the tracheal lumen in a patient with post-tuberculosis tracheomalacia.
• In recent years the team has studied biomimetic PCL external tracheal stents in adult and pediatric tracheomalacia models.

What this means for you: For patients with tracheal tumors, complex airway stenosis or tracheomalacia — conditions many centers cannot treat — Tangdu offers one of the world's most experienced airway-reconstruction teams.

Minimally Invasive Thoracic Oncology (VATS / Uniportal VATS)

Routine thoracoscopic and complex open surgery for lung cancer, esophageal cancer and mediastinal tumors, achieving radical resection with less trauma, faster recovery and shorter hospital stays.

Chest-Wall Disease & Thoracic Trauma

Chest-wall tumor resection and reconstruction, including the hospital's China-first thoracoscopy-assisted rib resection with 3D-printed titanium rib implantation, plus extensive experience in multiple rib fractures, hemopneumothorax and other chest injuries.

Esophageal Surgery

Radical resection for esophageal cancer and surgery for benign esophageal disease, built on the hospital's early signature technique — the "tunnel" esophagogastric anastomosis for esophageal cancer, designed to reduce anastomotic complications.

Comprehensive Lung-Tumor Care

Drawing on the hospital's "comprehensive lung-cancer care" signature field, the department offers surgery-led multidisciplinary treatment; an early technique included convergent energy-knife (high-temperature radiofrequency) ablation of lung tumors.

Central Airway Stenosis Intervention

A hospital-level specialty in interventional treatment of central airway stenosis, restoring airway patency by endoscopic and stenting means.

Wartime Respiratory-Injury Rehabilitation

One of Tangdu's signature fields, with deep experience in thoracic combat-trauma care and rehabilitation of respiratory injuries.

Main Conditions Treated

• Lung cancer and pulmonary nodules / ground-glass nodules
• Esophageal cancer, cardia cancer and benign esophageal disease
• Mediastinal tumors (e.g., thymoma)
• Tracheal and airway disease (tracheal tumors, airway stenosis, tracheomalacia)
• Chest-wall disease and thoracic trauma (chest-wall tumors, multiple rib fractures, hemopneumothorax)
• Pleural disease (pneumothorax, empyema, pleural effusion)
• Benign lung disease (e.g., bullae)

Expert Team

• Li Xiaofei (李小飞, former discipline leader): MD, post-doctoral fellow, doctoral supervisor; long served as director, chief physician and professor of this National Key Discipline and is a well-known thoracic surgeon; co-author of the Chinese expert consensus on postoperative follow-up of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (2022).
• Senior experts: Huang Lijun (黄立军), Zhao Zhengyuan (赵正源), Jiang Tao (姜涛), Cheng Qingshu (程庆书), Ma Qunfeng (马群风), Zhou Yong'an (周永安), Wang Yunjie (王云杰), Liu Kun (刘锟), Wang Yingyu, Wang Xiaoping (王小平) and others, covering lung cancer, esophageal cancer, mediastinal tumors, tracheal surgery and thoracic trauma.
• Zhao Jinbo (赵金波): Department member working on airway diseases such as tracheomalacia.
• Jing Pengyu (荆鹏宇): Associate chief physician, PhD, a core mid-career physician of the department.

Note: titles and clinic schedules are subject to the hospital's and official platforms' current listings.

Address and Contact

Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Medical University No. 1 Xinsi Road, Baqiao District, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China Tel: +86-29-84777777 (main line / inquiries / appointments); information desk +86-29-84777114 Website: tdwww.fmmu.edu.cn Getting there: about a 40-minute drive from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY). International patient services: The hospital regularly receives international patients and can arrange medical interpreters for English-, Russian- and Arabic-speaking patients; remote consultations with medical records and imaging can be requested before travelling, through official channels.

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If you are exploring Tangdu Hospital for other specialties, see our guides to neurosurgery at Tangdu and hematology at Tangdu.

This article is compiled from the hospital's official website, authoritative media, public rankings and academic sources, for reference only; it is not a basis for diagnosis or treatment. Please defer to the hospital's latest official announcements.