Abstract: Surgical technique of lung transplantation exerts significant impact on clinical prognosis of the recipients. Choosing an appropriate surgical incision determines the exposure of intraoperative visual field, which is the first step of surgical success and directly affects subsequent surgical procedures. Lung transplantation incision is usually considered as primary closure. Nevertheless, for patients with high-risk factors such as oversized lung allografts and primary graft failure after lung transplantation, primary closure cannot be achieved. Hence, delayed chest closure is an effective strategy. The selection of incisions and the adoption of delayed chest closure of lung transplantation exert profound impact upon perioperative prognosis, long-term quality of life and surgical complications of the recipients. Therefore, the development and research status of Clamshell incision, anterolateral incision, posterolateral incision and median sternal incision in lung transplantation were reviewed, highlighting the effect of incision patterns on clinical prognosis of lung transplantation and providing reference for the selection of incisions in clinical lung transplantation.