The 41st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association for Chest Surgery Congress President:Masayuki Chida, MD, PhD Professor, Dokkyo Medical University Department of General Thoracic Surgery

  It is my great honor to host the 41st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association for Chest Surgery on May 31 and June 1, 2024. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the members for this opportunity.

  The theme of this meeting is "Master the Boundaries”. Although lung cancer is the primary target of thoracic surgery today, there are a wide variety of respiratory diseases in which thoracic surgeon should be involved. Surgery of the cervical trachea and larynx overlaps with head and neck surgery, and lung cancer involving the heart and great vessels overlaps with the field of cardiac surgery. Treatment of bone and soft tissue tumors and germ cell tumors requires collaboration with orthopedic surgeons, urologists, and clinical oncologists. Life-saving emergency surgery in thoracic trauma is also required, as well as for inflammatory diseases that are difficult to treat in respiratory medicine. Without knowledge of these diseases, which are encountered only occasionally, it is impossible to formulate an appropriate treatment plan. I would like to remind you that thoracic surgeons have to deal with a very wide range of diseases. In addition, the word "boundary" also has the meaning of "frontier" in Japanese. We will also prepare programs that provide an overview of the current state of lung cancer surgery.

  This year’s JACS 2024 Annual Meeting will be held in Karuizawa, one of the most famous summer resorts in Japan. The former Emperor met and fell in love with his wife, the former Empress, on a tennis court in Karuizawa. The transportation is not too convenient, only one hour from Tokyo by Shinkansen bullet train, so come and join the academic discussions and debate about the future of thoracic surgery in the fresh air of Karuizawa in May.