What Is STS (sts.org)?

Updated

STS stands for The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, a professional medical society for cardiothoracic surgeons. Its website, sts.org, is a membership and professional-resource hub rather than a consumer health or e-commerce site. It is most useful if you are a cardiothoracic surgeon, a surgeon in training, or someone working with the specialty who needs clinical registries, risk calculators, research data, advocacy updates, or annual meeting information. If you are a patient looking for treatment advice or a place to buy medical products, this is not the right destination.

Who the site is for

The content is built around the professional practice of cardiothoracic surgery. The homepage surfaces material such as:

  • Advocacy and policy updates — for example, a presidential update addressing the CMS National Coverage Determination for transcatheter aortic valve replacement and the Society's support for multidisciplinary, heart team-based care.
  • Compensation benchmarking — the STS Surgeon Compensation Survey, which asks U.S.-based CT surgeons to report their value by specialty, practice type, career stage, and geography.
  • Annual Meeting registration — the 63rd STS Annual Meeting, with early bird discounts noted as available until Nov. 2, 2026.
  • Awards — such as the 2027 Nina Starr Braunwald Extraordinary Women in Cardiothoracic Surgery (EWCTS) Awards, recognizing achievements in clinical practice, leadership, mentorship, and advocacy.
  • Clinical video content — for example, a summary of findings from a study of patients in the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database who underwent operative repair of a postinfarct ventricular septal defect (PIVSD) from 2014 to 2022, discussing extracorporeal life support as an option for hemodynamic stabilization.

What resources the site provides

The site organizes its professional tools into a few clear areas:

Area What it offers
STS National Database Described as the gold standard for clinical registries and quality improvement
Public Reporting Institutional performance and national benchmarks for survival, complications, and other measures
Current Projects Research in progress from programs funded by STS
Data Access Programs STS data for quality improvement initiatives, clinical trials, and research
Risk Calculators Tools to calculate a patient's risk of mortality and morbidities for common surgeries
Early Career Resources Guidance aimed at surgeons earlier in their careers

How to decide whether to use it

Use sts.org if you need one of the following:

  • Registry or benchmark data for quality improvement, research, or comparing institutional performance.
  • A risk calculator to estimate mortality and morbidity risk for common cardiothoracic surgeries.
  • Policy and advocacy context on issues affecting the specialty, such as coverage decisions.
  • Meeting, award, or survey participation tied to the Society's professional community.

Look elsewhere if you want patient-facing medical information, general health advice, or products to purchase. The site's own framing — member voices, surgeon compensation, database research, and annual meeting registration — makes clear that its audience is the profession, not the public.

One practical note on the compensation survey: it is explicitly aimed at U.S.-based CT surgeons and asks for detail by specialty, practice, career stage, and geography, so it is not a general salary reference for other roles or countries.