Use of the transcervical approach in thoracic surgery has advanced significantly during the past 60 years, owing primarily to advances in technology. Nevertheless, the possibilities of this approach have never been compiled in a systematic way. This book aims to rectify the situation by describing, in a structured way, all the thoracic procedures that can be performed using the transcervical approach. Indications and contraindications, surgical techniques, complications, and results are all covered, based on the authors' experience and published reports. The contents encompass diverse surgical endoscopic procedures for diagnosis and staging, use of the transcervical approach for surgery to the thymus and mediastinum, lungs and bronchi, trachea and esophagus and miscellaneous items including the role of robotic surgery.

Ramón Rami-Porta, MD, PhD, FETCS, graduated from the Medical School, University of Barcelona, in 1980 and then undertook specialty training in thoracic surgery at the 'Jimenez Diaz' Foundation, Autonomous University of Madrid. He gained his PhD in 1986 and since 1989 has been Attending Thoracic.

Surgeon at the Hospital Universitari Mutua Terrassa, Terrassa, Barcelona. Since 1998 he has been on the editorial board of the Cochrane Lung Cancer Group and in 2006 he became Associate Editor of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer till 2012. He was also a member of the editorial board for Archivos de Bronconeumología, the journal of the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery from 2009 to 2013. He is the author of more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as numerous book chapters. Marcin Zielinski, MD, PhD, graduated from the Medical Academy in Warsaw in 1983 and subsequently specialized in general and thoracic surgery. He gained his doctorate in 1994 from the Medical Academy in Warsaw and in 2006 was awarded his Habilitation by the Jagiellonian University, Cracow, for studies on factors affecting the effectiveness of the operative treatment of myasthenia gravis. Since 1996 he has been Head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery and since 2004, also Director of the Pulmonary Hospital in Zakopane. Dr. Zielinski is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery (Torino) and a reviewer of thoracic surgery manuscripts for several leading journals. He is the author of almost 70 original articles in indexed journals.