The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Workforce on Evidence Based Surgery develops clinical practice documents including clinical practice guidelines, expert consensus documents, and expert opinion/white papers to provide practical assistance to the STS membership. These documents are intended to assist physicians and other health care providers in clinical decision-making by describing a range of generally acceptable approaches for the diagnosis, management, or prevention of specific diseases or conditions. 

Clinical practice guideline documents are thoroughly reviewed, and the conclusions and recommendations are based on a systematic review of scientific evidence published in medical literature. 
 
Expert consensus documents represent the collective opinions of an expert panel on a clinical topic. The opinions expressed in the statement(s) are not generally developed in accordance with the formal evidence review process outline for clinical practice guidelines. The authors may suggest treatment strategies based on their collective knowledge and clinical experience.  
 
An expert opinion/white paper is authored by leading experts on clinical topics with scarce data and significant uncertainty. These documents are intended to synthesize existing scientific literature, divergent opinions, and other treatment strategies, rather than provide recommendations.   

Adult Cardiac Surgery

Clinical Practice Guidelines

Diagnosing and Treating Acute and Chronic Syndromes of the Aortic Organ (2024) 

Surgical Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (2023) 

Prevention of Adult Cardiac Surgery–Associated Acute Kidney Injury (2023) 

Type B Aortic Dissection (2021) 

Patient Blood Management (2021) 

Transesophageal Echocardiography (2020) 

Anticoagulation During Cardiopulmonary Bypass (2018) 

Arterial Conduits for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (2016) 

Temperature Management During Cardiopulmonary Bypass (2015) 

Expert Consensus Documents

Perioperative Care in Cardiac Surgery (2023) 

Surgical Heart Valve Characteristics for Optimal Valve Prosthesis Selection (2021) 

Stage Classification Expert Consensus Update: A Review and Incorporation of Validation Studies (2021) 

Post-Cardiotomy Extracorporeal Life Support in Adult Patients

Transcatheter Mitral Valve Intervention (2019) 

General Thoracic Surgery

Clinical Practice Guidelines

Surgical Management of Oligometastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) (2025)

Multimodality Therapy for Locally Advanced Cancer of the Esophagus or Gastroesophageal Junction (2023) 

Malignant Pleural Effusions (2018) 

Prophylaxis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation Associated With General Thoracic Surgery (2011) 

Expert Consensus Documents

Multidisciplinary Management of Locally Advanced Non-Small Lung Cancer (2024)

Robotic Thoracic Surgery Training for Residents (2024)

Surgical Management of Thymoma (2024) 

Management of Pleural Drains Following Pulmonary Lobectomy (2024) 

Pulmonary Metastasectomy (2019) 

Congenital Heart Surgery

Clinical Practice Guidelines

Management with Coarctation (2024) 

Protecting the Infant Brain During Cardiac Surgery (2012) 

Expert Consensus Documents

Nomenclature and Classification of the Congenital Bicuspid Aortic Valve (2021) 

Suggest a Guideline Topic 

STS-Endorsed Clinical Practice Documents

These clinical practice documents have been developed by external organizations and reviewed by the Society for inclusion on the STS website.

STS Guideline Policies

Clinical Practice Guidelines Publication Policy 

Clinical practice guidelines are intended as one element of the physician’s armamentarium and should not be considered inclusive of all proper methods of care or exclusive of other methods of care reasonably directed at obtaining the same results. Moreover, these guidelines are subject to change over time, without notice. The ultimate judgment regarding the care of a particular patient must be made by the physician in light of the individual circumstances presented by the patient. 
 
STS clinical practice guidelines may be printed or downloaded for individual and personal use only. Guidelines may not be reproduced in any print or electronic publication or offered for sale or distribution in any format without the express written permission of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.