Dr. Wenlin Wang, MD
Chief Physician
Dr. Wenlin Wang is the founder of chest wall surgery specialty, the chairman of the Chinese Chest Wall Surgery Alliance, and the founder and president of the Institute of Chest Wall Surgery (ICWS).
Dr. Wenlin Wang is a leading figure in the field of chest wall surgery, having been the first in the world to propose this specialty in 2008. Since then, he has contributed extensively to the field. After ten years of dedicated effort, on May 9, 2018, he established the world’s first independent department of chest wall surgery, setting it apart from thoracic or cardiothoracic surgery.
In 2019, he established the Chinese Chest Wall Surgery Alliance, the country’s first professional organization dedicated to chest wall surgery. On February 9, 2023, Dr. Wang founded ICWS, the world’s first hospital specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of various chest wall deformities and disorders.
With over a decade of clinical experience, Dr. Wang has performed nearly 10,000 chest wall surgeries, holding the global record for the highest number of chest wall operations. His department is nationally recognized as a leading center for chest wall surgery. Meanwhile, Dr. Wang has identified and named several chest wall deformities, including grooved chest, saddle chest, Wenlin chest, etc., and has developed effective surgical techniques such as the Wang procedure, Wung procedure, Wenlin procedure, and Willine procedure. Notably, the Wang procedure has received official recognition from China’s National Health Commission as a new surgical treatment for pectus excavatum.
Dr. Wang and his team have set multiple world records in chest wall surgery, including the first simultaneous surgery for double lung transplantation combined with complex chest wall deformities and the first simultaneous surgery for asphyxiating thoracic dysplasia alongside congenital heart disease. They have also performed surgeries on the oldest pectus excavatum patient (69 years old) and the youngest (1 month old), as well as on the oldest pectus carinatum patient (59 years old).
Additionally, Dr. Wang has developed original surgical techniques for special deformities such as asphyxiating thoracic dysplasia, straight back syndrome, barrel chest, costal arch deformity, saddle chest, flat pectus carinatum, and secondary chest wall deformities. He is recognized as the only surgeon in the world capable of performing surgeries for conditions like straight back syndrome, barrel chest, costal arch deformity, and saddle chest.
Conditions Treated
Procedures Performed
Education and Training
2002-2004—Post Doc Position
The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University
2000—MD
Southern Medical University
1990—Bachelor
Third Military Medical University
Publications
Bilateral correction of asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy
Wenlin Wang, Weiguang Long, Yang Liu, Bin Cai.
Journal of Surgical Case Reports, Volume 2022, Issue 8, August 2022, rjac352.
Chest wall reconstruction with digitally designed materials for straight back syndrome with tracheal stenosis: a case report
Liu Y, Wang W, Long W, Cai B, Chen C, Wang W, Guan S, Luo J, Chen K.
Ann Transl Med. 2021 Aug;9(16):1357.
Experience with Wang procedure for treatment of pectus excavatum in young children
Wang W, Long W, Chen C.
Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao. 2019 Feb 28;39(2):249-252. Chinese.