He is a skilled surgical hand—from watershed-analysis precise resection to minimally invasive uniportal segmentectomy to complex, highly difficult giant thoracic tumors—always delivering treatments with less trauma and faster recovery. For lymph-node–metastatic lung cancer, among the most difficult and heterogeneous diseases to treat, he pioneered China's first multidisciplinary Stage III lung cancer clinic, leveraging multidisciplinary synergy to optimize lung cancer surgery and full-course management, improve quality of life, and prolong survival. A study led by his Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute further showed that a "targeted therapy–surgery–targeted therapy" combination strategy reduced postoperative recurrence risk by 61%.

　　He is Prof. Zhong Wenzhao, professor at the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute and chief physician at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital.

Expert Profile

Zhong Wenzhao

Vice Chair, Lung Cancer Branch, Guangdong Precision Medicine Application Society

Deputy Director, Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute

Recipient of the Guangdong May 1st Labor Medal

       PhD in thoracic oncology surgery; chief physician. Deputy Director of the Scientific Research Office; doctoral supervisor at the School of Medicine, South China University of Technology and at Southern Medical University. Council member of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO), vice chair of its Youth Committee, and head of the lung cancer specialty group. Reviewer for the National Natural Science Foundation of China; vice group leader of the Chinese Medical Association early cancer diagnosis group; Associate Editor of the IASLC official journal Journal of Thoracic Oncology (J Thorac Oncol, IF 12.4); Vice Chair of the Guangdong Medical Association Lung Tumor Branch; Vice Chair of the Lung Cancer Branch of the Guangdong Precision Medicine Application Society. Performs more than 600 minimally invasive lung cancer surgeries per year; won first place in China in the 2016 Chinese Medical Doctor Association Thoracic Surgery Skills Competition (endoscopic lung resection group); runner-up in the 2016 AME International Uniportal VATS Lobectomy Competition; led the Lung Institute team to the championship final of the China–Japan–Korea Personalized Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Competition in 2015; named "Guangdong Good Doctor" in 2019; selected as Outstanding Young Talent under the 2019 "Dual Youth Talent Program" (RMB 4 million) and among the first Guangdong "Peak Plan" project awardees (RMB 10 million).

       After 22 years in medicine, Prof. Zhong Wenzhao—Deputy Director of the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute and chief physician at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital—is in a surgeon's golden years as a clinician–scientist.

       His primary disease focus is lung cancer, which has high incidence, high malignancy, and high risk of metastasis and recurrence after treatment. In Zhong's view, the response is: seek scientific inspiration from clinical practice and put it into practice; then feed research results back to the clinic to bring more hope to lung cancer patients and improve prognosis and quality of life.

       Zhong Wenzhao trained under leading lung cancer expert Prof. Wu Yilong. An eight-year study led by Prof. Wu of the Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute and executed by Zhong Wenzhao—using a "targeted therapy–surgery–targeted therapy" combination for lung cancer patients—reduced postoperative recurrence risk by 61% in patients with driver-gene mutations and mediastinal lymph-node metastasis (Stage IIIA–N2). Results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and The Lancet Oncology, among the most influential journals in oncology.He participated in the project "Establishment and Promotion of a Perioperative Targeted Therapy System for Lung Cancer," which successively received the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress First Prize and the Guangdong Ding Ying Science and Technology Award, among other honors.

       He also contributed to the CSCO Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Lung Cancer, co-edited the Ministry of Health graduate textbook Cardiothoracic Surgery, participated in a project that won the National Science and Technology Progress Second Prize, and serves as Associate Editor of the IASLC official journal Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

Deep Dive into a "Lung Cancer GPS" to Precisely Target Cancer Cells

       Zhong Wenzhao's research focuses on the perioperative period of lung cancer.Since 2011, he has concentrated on prospective research in "precision therapy.""Precision therapy" means classifying patients. The team built a four-dimensional classification system: first, dividing lung cancer into early, intermediate, and advanced stages and applying different treatment plans by stage;the second dimension is pathological classification—different pathologies call for different drugs and treatments;the third is genetic classification, making drug use more effective;the fourth classifies tumors by the tumor-cell microenvironment.Selecting different drugs and surgical plans across these four dimensions can prolong survival for some patients.

       Generally, early-stage lung cancer treated with surgery has a five-year survival rate above 90%. Advanced lung cancer, however, is usually unsuitable for surgery, because operating can "stir up a hornet's nest" and lead to systemic metastasis and recurrence.

       Yet many lung cancer patients are already at an intermediate stage at diagnosis, with lymph-node metastasis. If managed properly and after induction therapy, such patients may reverse toward an earlier stage and gain a chance of potential cure.

       Among localized lung cancers, Stage III disease with mediastinal lymph-node metastasis is the most complex, with the most uncertain prognosis and the greatest treatment difficulty—most in need of multidisciplinary comprehensive care. Clinical data show that distant metastases to brain, bone, liver, and elsewhere often appear on average 8 to 11 months after surgery, with five-year postoperative survival of 15% to 25%. What can be done for these patients?

       Preoperative chemotherapy is a common approach. By killing cancer cells and shrinking lesions before surgery, physicians aim to lower the risk of postoperative recurrence and metastasis. In practice, however, the success rate of highly toxic preoperative chemotherapy is only about 5%.

      The Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute team has devoted research to finding treatments with fewer side effects. Cancer cells are like criminals escaping prison and roaming the body; the team hopes to build a "lung cancer GPS" to precisely locate and eliminate them—replacing preoperative chemotherapy with induction neoadjuvant targeted therapy.

      But the research path still has many obstacles. The team proposed a "targeted therapy first, then surgery, then targeted therapy again" regimen. First, the clinical study required multidisciplinary collaboration—e.g., coordinating pulmonary medicine, thoracic surgery, radiation oncology, and more. Second, cases had to pass strict, layered screening.

      The study lasted eight years across 17 hospitals. Of 386 patients strictly screened, only 72 were enrolled—about one case per month.

      Results were encouraging. The "targeted therapy–surgery–targeted therapy" combination was the world's first preoperative targeted therapy outcome in mutant lung cancer. For patients with EGFR-sensitive driver mutations and hilar/mediastinal lymph-node metastasis, postoperative recurrence risk fell by 61%, and median time to recurrence was prolonged by about 10 months.

"Precision with Standardization; Minimally Invasive Care with Safety"

       Many early pulmonary tumors are only marble-sized nodules—hard to detect, yet treatable at an early stage.

       A 40-year-old patient was found on CT to have a 9 mm pulmonary nodule, like a small marble, that required surgery.

       Such small nodules further test a surgeon's fine operative skill. Precisely locating these "marble tumors" and choosing the most accurate resection extent is the greatest challenge.

       Multiple methods now exist to precisely locate nodules hidden deep in the lung lobes—for example, relatively accurate CT-guided dye localization. But because this patient's cardiac function was poor, conventional CT localization risked pneumothorax or hemothorax and would have required localization under general anesthesia. Severe mitral regurgitation also demanded minimizing operative time.

       Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital has strong comprehensive capabilities, with cross-learning among the Cardiovascular Institute, Lung Institute, and other departments. Drawing inspiration from cardiac 3D printing in cardiac surgery, Zhong Wenzhao's team creatively applied 3D printing, MR (mixed reality) glasses, and other new technologies to "encircle" small nodules.

       Physicians first import the patient's contrast-enhanced chest CT data, rebuild a 3D thoracic model with 3D software, design a personalized positioning guide, and finally use amedical 3D printerto print a tangible surgical plan.To improve puncture accuracy, Prof. Zhong Wenzhao decided to use MR glasses as an aid—projecting the CT-reconstructed virtual lung onto the patient's chest so it coincided with the real lung, providing "navigation" for the surgeon.

       Thanks to thorough preoperative planning, the sublobar resection was completed in only half an hour. The new technology essentially achieved precise localization and greatly improved surgical efficiency and success. At the end of the operation, Zhong Wenzhao used an improved tubeless and suture-free closure method; compared with traditional chest-tube placement and suture removal, the new approach meant less postoperative pain, better wound healing, and fewer complications. "Within 24 hours he could get out of bed; in two days he could be discharged without returning for suture removal. Some patients find it hard to believe."

      This, in fact, is the power of technology—the power ofmedical 3D printingand MR, and the direction of future precision medicine and digital healthcare.

      "MR technology + medicine" combinations are not hard to replicate in imaging terms; the key is professionals who deeply understand healthcare and even surgical operations. On the question of how new technology helps physicians perform specialized procedures, clinicians themselves are better suited than tech-industry developers to lead product direction and drive application-oriented innovation.

       Surgeons care more about how tightly new technology couples with surgical outcomes. Prof. Zhong Wenzhao told reporters he recalls the evolution of conformal intensity-modulated radiotherapy—from broad coverage at first, to increasingly precise targeting, and later to technology that can even simulate physiological responses and adapt positioning accordingly. "Taking pulmonology as an example, our current 3D printing + MR glasses localization is more accurate in the upper lobe than the lower lobe, because the lower lobe is often affected by the patient's own breathing—slight motion shift with each breath. In the future, these new technologies will surely evolve like radiotherapy did, pre-designing even physiological responses for smarter, more accurate localization."

Raising Advanced Lung Cancer Survival from 1% to 30%

       In the hospital, Zhong Wenzhao performs 500–600-plus lung cancer surgeries a year, almost daily in the OR and wards, carefully observing and encouraging patients postoperatively, seeing clinic patients until after 8 p.m. every Tuesday, and following long-term outcomes. Clinically, his "intensive cultivation" of large case volumes enriches microscopic understanding of disease, then reveals clinical dilemmas and problems that are gradually refined, improved, and validated into outstanding research achievements that benefit more patients.

       Beyond clinic and surgery, Zhong Wenzhao also serves as one of the lead physicians on Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital's grassroots free-clinic expert teams, providing one-to-one support to primary hospitals so residents of Yingde can see provincial "top doctors" at their doorstep. The grassroots free clinics were once reported by China Media Group's Xinwen Lianbo (CCTV News).

       Recently, Zhong Wenzhao and his team published a series of studies—on key chained technologies in lung cancer surgery, precise perioperative therapy, artificial intelligence, liquid biopsy to predict pulmonary nodule nature, improved tubeless enhanced recovery after surgery, mixed-reality 3D reconstruction of pulmonary nodules, and molecular evolution of ground-glass opacities—in top thoracic surgery and oncology journals including JCO, The Oncologist, JEV, ATS, IVCTS, and JTO, drawing international attention.

       Zhong Wenzhao has witnessed medicine's advances in the contest with lung cancer; the team's findings often appear in top journals such as The Lancet. Not long ago, a project in which he was a key member appeared in Cancer Discovery, the leading journal in malignancy research—using hematologic tracking to predict recurrence in early- and intermediate-stage lung cancer patients, causing a stir in the field.

       Twenty years ago, more than 70% of lung cancer patients Zhong Wenzhao saw were advanced, and only 20%–30% could undergo surgery. Today, he notes, more early-stage patients are being found, and with curative treatment more can be thoroughly cured; intermediate-stage disease represented by Stage III lung cancer can partly reverse toward early disease through targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and chemoradiotherapy adjuncts; and with better drugs, treatment concepts, and standardized management, advanced lung cancer is becoming a "chronic disease."

       Twenty years ago, five-year survival for advanced patients was only 1%–5%; today it has reached or even exceeded 30%.

More Hospitals and Specialties Benefit from 3D Technology

       Through Sailner WJP full-color multi-material 3D printing, patient-specific models can be created on demand to improve clinical outcomes. Real physical models offer tangible, spatial, and tactile advantages that effectively help surgeons optimize preoperative plans and reduce risk.