Towards establishing standards of practice in general thoracic surgery: the European perspective

The European situation makes it not easy to establish uniform conditions for quality assurance in GTS. However, by setting up the necessary tools in the form of the European Board, the European Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Institute of Accreditation, and the European Registry, the two major scientific societies of Europe have prepared the necessary requirements for that quality assurance [6]. All these instruments and the application of the suggested mechanisms currently are still voluntary; nevertheless, it is important that regulations are defined within the concerned scientific societies and not imposed from an outside legal body. It lies in the interest and in the discretion the individual departments and surgeons to use and to comply with these existing possibilities to perform GTS at a uniform European quality level.