Bridging Knowledge and Practice in Complex Chest Wall Surgery: ICWS in Abu Dhabi and Pakistan
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
Updated: 9 hours ago
In late April 2026, Professor Wenlin Wang, director of the Institute of Chest Wall Surgery (ICWS), was invited to speak at the Emirates International Thoracic Surgery Congress 2026 held in Abu Dhabi.
The congress brought together more than 900 delegates from 28 countries, with distinguished faculty and speakers representing leading institutions in thoracic surgery worldwide. The scientific program covered a broad spectrum of topics, including airway diseases, mediastinal pathology, pleural disorders, and, in particular, chest wall tumors and deformities—areas closely aligned with the clinical focus and surgical expertise of ICWS.
Among the key highlights of the congress, Professor Wang delivered a keynote lecture titled “Novel Wang, Wung & Wenlin Techniques for the Management of Pectus Defect.” The presentation focused on ICWS’s surgical strategies for complex chest wall deformities, drawing on extensive clinical experience and refined operative approaches developed at ICWS. These three techniques have been applied in a wide range of challenging pectus excavatum cases, including infantile cases, post-cardiac surgery cases, and those associated with co-existed convex chest wall deformities, where conventional methods often have limited effectiveness. As the only invited speaker from China to deliver a keynote presentation at the congress, Professor Wang’s participation further reflected the growing international recognition of ICWS’s surgical techniques in this specialized field.
During the same period, Professor Wang was also invited to Pakistan, where he collaborated with local surgical teams to perform two challenging surgeries for complex chest wall deformities at leading medical centers, including Ziauddin University Hospital and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
The procedures included one case of a rare “Wenlin chest” deformity combined with Poland syndrome, and another involving severe pectus excavatum with scoliosis. Wenlin chest is a rare and complex chest wall deformities characterized by a distinctive sternal configuration, typically presenting as anterior protrusion of the upper sternum with depression in the lower segment, resulting in an S-shaped contour in the lateral view. Based on extensive clinical experience, ICWS has developed a tailored surgical approach that fully releases structural stress through “pre-shaping” technique, followed by combined corrective procedures, in which the Wenlin procedure addresses the protruding deformity and the Wung procedure corrects the depressed component, thereby restoring chest wall appearance.
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Beyond these two cases, multiple high-difficulty chest wall surgeries were also completed during the visit. Such exchanges are expected to further strengthen global collaboration and facilitate the dissemination of specialized surgical approaches developed at ICWS. Through continuous hands-on collaboration, these techniques may be progressively integrated into different hospitals and surgical centers, enabling more surgeons to apply them in practice and ultimately improving access to advanced treatment for patients worldwide.
