What MCh Thoracic Surgery residents and departments actually read in 2026 — with journals, a year-wise reading plan, and the references you will need for your thesis and exit practical.
These 16 titles are the standard references for Thoracic Surgery, drawn from the NBE DrNB curriculum and the texts Indian teaching departments work from. Each is shown with the edition in circulation now, so you can print or buy the right one first time.
The books most residents actually buy. These are the editions in circulation now, with a note on whether each is something you read through, keep as a reference, or open only for the viva.
Three years of superspecialty training goes faster than it sounds, and most of it is spent on the floor. The order below is what works for most MCh Thoracic Surgery residents.
Fishman sections for respiratory physiology and pre-operative assessment; Kaiser's Mastery and Zwischenberger's Atlas for the operations assisted; chest imaging drilled daily; register the thesis protocol.
Shields systematically by region (lung, pleura, mediastinum, chest wall, diaphragm, airway) with Pearson for oesophagus and airway; VATS training; IASLC staging memorised; thesis data collection.
Sugarbaker's Adult Chest Surgery and Thoracic Surgery Clinics for recent advances, landmark trial review (ACOSOG Z0030, CALGB 140503, CROSS, NEOTORCH/CheckMate 816), and intensive mock clinicals, imaging, PFT and bronchoscopy spots.
Protocol, methodology and reporting standards examiners expect you to have followed.
Cases, spotters and stations that come up again and again in the exit exam.
The MCh Thoracic Surgery exit examination is university-conducted under NMC Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations. Typical practice is four theory papers of 100 marks — applied basic sciences and respiratory physiology; lung, pleura and chest wall; oesophagus, mediastinum and airway; and recent advances — with a clinical/practical of one long and two to three short cases, ward rounds, imaging and PFT spots, bronchoscopy/thoracoscopy videos, instruments, and viva including logbook and thesis.
The titles on this page are the ones residents and departments actually use, each with the edition in circulation now. Start with the first one listed and add the references as your reading deepens.
Shields' General Thoracic Surgery (2 vols) by Joseph LoCicero III, Richard H. Feins, Yolonda L. Colson, Gaetano Rocco is the usual anchor. The definitive general thoracic surgery reference.
MCh Thoracic Surgery is a superspecialty course taken after a broad-specialty MD, MS or DNB, so the reading is narrower and deeper. The broad-specialty texts are assumed knowledge by the time you start.
No. Most residents own two or three and use the department or library copy for the rest. That is exactly why printing selected chapters from a PDF works out cheaper than buying volumes you will open twice.
We print from the PDF you send us. Send the file on WhatsApp with your page count and whether you want colour, black and white or mixed, and we print, bind and deliver anywhere in India. We do not supply copyrighted book files.
Black and white is 50 paise a page, colour is Rs 1 a page, and binding is Rs 40 per bound volume. A 400-page mixed set with binding usually works out around Rs 300 plus delivery.
Send the PDF on WhatsApp — colour Rs 1/page, B&W 50p/page, binding Rs 40. Printed, bound and delivered anywhere in India.
Send your PDF