• Alessandro Brunelli, Pierre Emmanuel Falcoz, Thomas D'Amico, Henrik Hansen, Eric Lim, Gilbert Massard, Thomas W Rice, Gaetano Rocco, Pascal Thomas, Dirk Van Raemdonck, Miguel Congregado, Herbert Decaluwe, Tomasz Grodzki, Toni Lerut, Thomas Molnar, Michele Salati, Marco Scarci, Paul Van Schil, Gonzalo Varela, Federico Venuta, Franca Melfi, Cengiz Gebitekin, Jaroslaw Kuzdzal, Gunda Leschber, Isabelle Opitz, Kostas Papagiannopoulos, Alec Patterson, Enrico Ruffini, Walter Klepetko, and Alper Toker.
• St James's University Hospital, Leeds, UK.
• Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2014 May 1; 45 (5): 779-86.

ObjectiveTo update the recommendations for the structural characteristics of general thoracic surgery (GTS) in Europe in order to provide a document that can be used as a guide for harmonizing the general thoracic surgical practice in Europe.MethodsA task force was created to set the structural, procedural and qualification characteristics of a European GTS unit. These criteria were endorsed by the Executive Committee of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons and by the Thoracic Domain of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and were validated by the European Board of Thoracic Surgery at European Union of Medical Specialists.ResultsCriteria regarding definition and scope of GTS, structure and qualification of GTS unit, training and education and recommendations for subjects of particular interest (lung transplant, oesophageal surgery, minimally invasive thoracic surgery, quality surveillance) were developed.ConclusionsThis document will hopefully represent the first step of a process of revision of the modern thoracic surgeons' curricula, which need to be qualitatively rethought in the setting of the qualification process. The structural criteria highlighted in the present document are meant to help and tackle the challenge of cultural and language barriers as well as of widely varying national training programmes.

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