This web site is published by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) for prospective candidates for examination, and others who are interested, to outline the rules and regulations established by the Board in conformity with its policies.

The ABTS does not publish a list of residency training programs in thoracic surgery nor does it maintain a list of available openings in training programs. Institutions whose training programs are approved by the Residency Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery (RRC-TS) and accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) are listed in the Graduate Medical Education Directory published annually by the American Medical Association. Only individuals who have successfully completed training in such programs will be admitted for examination.

The ABTS is an active member of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). The Board also functions in close cooperation with the RRC-TS, and through it, with the ACGME and the Council for Medical Affairs (CFMA). The Board also maintains close liaison with the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association.

A list of Diplomates of the Board appears in The Official American Board of Medical Specialties Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists.

The primary purpose and most essential function of the Board is to protect the public by establishing and maintaining high standards in thoracic surgery. To achieve these objectives, the Board has established qualifications for examination and procedures for certification and recertification. The requirements and procedures are reviewed regularly and modified as necessary.

Board certification in a medical specialty is evidence that a physician's qualifications for specialty practice are recognized by his or her peers. It is not intended to define the requirements for membership on hospital staffs, to gain special recognition or privileges for its Diplomates, to define the scope of specialty practice, or to state who may or may not engage in the practice of the specialty. Specialty certification of a physician does not relieve a hospital's governing body from responsibility in determining the hospital privileges of such specialist.

The Board does not use or sanction the terms "board eligible" or "board qualified." The Board does not consider any physician to be a candidate for examination until he or she has made formal application and has been accepted for examination. Acceptance for examination acknowledges only that the candidate has successfully fulfilled the requirements and does not recognize that he or she is a specialist in thoracic surgery.

Certification of thoracic surgeons was first discussed by the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) at its 1936 meeting in Rochester, Minnesota, but it was the consensus that no need for certification existed at that time. As a result of the rapid growth and importance of thoracic surgery as a specialty during the succeeding years,  the need for a specialty board in thoracic surgery became apparent.

Recognizing that a large part of its membership wanted such a board, the AATS President  reappointed the original committee in 1945 to study the matter. The committee's report at the 1946 AATS meeting, held in Detroit, prompted a recommendation that a Board of Thoracic Surgery be formed in affiliation with the American Board of Surgery.

An AATS committee was appointed to confer with a similar committee appointed by the American Board of Surgery. The necessary steps with the Advisory Board of Medical Specialties were accomplished, and at the AATS meeting held in St. Louis in May 1947, the committee's report was submitted and adopted unanimously.

Through negotiations, a plan of organization was worked out and approved by the American Board of Surgery and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery at their respective meetings in Quebec in 1948. The organization of the Board of Thoracic Surgery was structured in accordance with the provisions of the plan, and the first, or organizational, meeting was held in Detroit on October 2, 1948.

On January 1, 1971, the Board of Thoracic Surgery became a primary board and changed its name to the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. It is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) which encompasses twenty-four specialties with primary Boards. The purpose of these Boards is to certify physicians who have completed an ACGME-approved residency in a specialty. The certification process has been instituted in the public interest.

Thoracic Surgery encompasses the operative, perioperative, and surgical critical care of patients with acquired and congenital pathologic conditions within the chest. Included is the surgical repair of heart lesions, and congenital and acquired conditions of the coronary arteries, valves, and myocardium. It also includes pathologic conditions of the lung, esophagus and chest wall, abnormalities of the great vessels, tumors of the mediastinum, and diseases of the diaphragm and pericardium. Management of the airway and injuries to the chest are also within the scope of the specialty.

Clinical competence in thoracic surgery requires factual knowledge and technical skills in the preoperative evaluation, operative management, and postoperative care of patients with pathologic conditions involving thoracic structures. Precise definition of the scope of thoracic surgery as well as the current methods used to assess clinical competence have been developed to ensure that an individual who is certified by the ABTS has met certain standards and qualifications.

The scope of thoracic surgery encompasses a knowledge of normal and pathologic conditions of both cardiovascular and general thoracic structures. This includes congenital and acquired lesions (including infections, trauma, tumors, and metabolic disorders) of both the heart and blood vessels in the thorax, as well as diseases involving the lungs, pleura, chest wall, mediastinum, esophagus, and diaphragm. In addition, the ability to establish a precise diagnosis, an essential step toward proper therapy, requires familiarity with diagnostic procedures such as cardiac catheterization, angiography, electrocardiography, imaging techniques, endoscopy, tissue biopsy, and biologic and biochemical tests appropriate to thoracic diseases. It is essential that the thoracic surgeon be knowledgeable and experienced in evolving techniques such as laser therapy, thoracoscopy and thoracoscopic surgery.

The factual knowledge and technical skills necessary to treat patients with thoracic conditions are obtainable in a thoracic surgery residency program that is approved by the RRC and accredited by the ACGME. The highest educational standards are best achieved in residency programs in which close supervision and instruction as well as progressive individual responsibility for operative and postoperative care are possible.

The ABTS realizes that an examination primarily tests the ability to reason and the factual knowledge acquired by the candidate. The limitations of examinations alone to assess clinical competence are well recognized, and an important part of the responsibility for determining clinical competence rests upon the director of each thoracic surgery residency program. It is for this reason that only applicants who complete an accredited thoracic surgery residency program will be considered for examination. It is during the period of residency that the trainee's ethical and moral character, judgment, technical skills, and abilities to cope with a wide variety of clinical problems can be assessed most accurately. Thus, the endorsement of the candidate by the program director is required to complete eligibility for ABTS certification.

Following the completion of residency in an accredited program, written and oral examinations are given to assess the trainee's capabilities. These examinations are constructed and given annually by the ABTS. Consultation and assistance in developing the examinations and analyzing the results are obtained from psychometricians and other experts. The validity and reliability of the examination process are scrutinized continually. To enter the examination process, candidates must submit to the ABTS office an application form that includes the specifics of their thoracic surgical operative experience in residency and the signature of the program director indicating satisfactory completion of the residency program. A passing score on the examination acknowledges that the candidate possesses certain qualities that are necessary to be clinically competent in thoracic surgery.

The current methods for establishing the candidate's qualifications are reviewed periodically and revised, when appropriate, in a continuing effort to assure the public that thoracic surgeons, certified by the ABTS have been adequately educated and are competent to practice the specialty.