Patient-tailored prevention of post-operative complications after lung resection

Precision medicine, according to the Precision Medicine Initiative, is an emerging medical approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle for each person. This approach is rapidly evolving especially in the field of medical oncology where it has significantly transform cancer care. The ultimate aim of tailoring therapeutic strategies is to maximize the benefit an individual patient harnesses from the specific treatment, while at the same time decreasing the impact of adverse side effects associated with it. Medical oncology is currently leading the way with the ability to identify the specific genetic mutation and allocate the treatment that is most likely benefitting the patients. In thoracic surgery, there is still a gap between our evidence-based guidelines that offer recommendations for groups of patients and the ideal individual approach recommended by the precision medicine. This paper aims to identify areas where it is possible to apply precision medicine to the prevention of postoperative complications after thoracic surgery.