A cardiothoracic surgeon performs surgery on your heart, lungs or esophagus and other parts of your chest. Surgeries can range from a heart valve replacement or heart transplant to treating lung cancer or esophageal cancer.

Your primary care physician, cardiologist, pulmonologist, or gastroenterologist may refer you to a thoracic surgeon if he/she feels that you could benefit from an operation to treat a condition involving the heart, lungs, esophagus, mediastinum, or chest wall.

Cardiologists can diagnose heart problems, perform minimally invasive procedures, and provide long-term treatment. Cardiac surgeons work on cardiologists' advice and provide treatment of complicated surgical procedures. They rarely see their patients outside of surgical consultation, operation, and early aftercare.

After four or more years of medical school, you need to complete a specialized cardiothoracic residency program that can last another six to eight years. These residency programs are highly competitive: the number of cardiothoracic residency programs is limited, and the pool of applicants is large.