[Notes on some operative procedures in chest surgery]

Experience with some useful procedures in chest surgery, gained over a 35-year-long clinical practice, is shared. The items discussed include: Lever assisted retraction of the intercostal space in thoracotomy. Preventive paravertebral excision of a rib in thoracotomy. Costal resection during thoracotomy. Hemostasis through aspiration electric cautery in thoracotomy and mediastinoscopy. Continuous running suture of bronchial stump and pulmonary parenchyma. Plastic bronchial stump hermetization. Pleural cavity drainage following inferior bilobectomy. Douche lavage for topical management of post-pulmonectomy empyema. The methods briefly outlined are addressed mainly to young chest surgeons in post-graduate training.