Gastroenterology

The Department of Gastroenterology was established in 1990 from the gastroenterology group of the former Department of Internal Medicine. It is now a Shandong Provincial Clinical Key Specialty, a Qingdao Municipal Key Discipline, a distinctive specialty of Qingdao University, and a key discipline for the hospital’s development. It is a comprehensive center integrating clinical care, research, and education for the diagnosis, treatment, and study of digestive diseases. In 2013, it was named one of the hospital’s “Top Ten Departments”; in 2014, it was named the “Department with the Greatest Growth Potential”; and in 2015, it received the “Outstanding Achievement Award for Discipline Development” during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. The department is distributed across the Shinan, Laoshan, and Huangdao campuses, with 100 operational beds. It handles more than 260,000 outpatient visits, approximately 4,600 inpatient visits or more, and approximately 35,000 endoscopic diagnostic and therapeutic cases or more annually. It currently has an academic team with strong overall quality, a high level of technical expertise, and a sound structure. In recent years, in response to the needs of discipline development, it has focused on cultivating multiple “subspecialty experts” with particular clinical expertise. Through the efforts of all department staff, Gastroenterology has achieved leapfrog development in its scale, medical services, specialty structure, academic standards, talent development, and medical equipment, and has made remarkable achievements in medical care, education, research, and other areas.

2. Talent Structure

The Department of Gastroenterology has a strong talent base and has developed into a high-level medical, educational, and research team with a full range of specialties, led by doctoral supervisors and supported by a large number of highly qualified young and middle-aged technical backbone staff. There are currently 48 physicians, including 7 chief physicians, 10 associate chief physicians, 21 attending physicians, and 10 resident physicians. 23 of them hold doctoral degrees, and 22 also hold doctoral degrees; those with a doctoral or master’s degree or higher account for 93.8%. Those with intermediate or senior professional titles account for 79.2%. Among them are 3 doctoral supervisors and 9 master’s supervisors. The department has established good collaborative relationships with Changhai Hospital of Shanghai Second Medical University, Xijing Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University, Beijing Friendship Hospital of Capital Medical University, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Renji Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Fukui Medical University in Japan, and the Faculty of Medicine of Kobe University, as well as other renowned institutions at home and abroad, creating favorable external opportunities for development. In recent years, it has sent a number of staff members to the above institutions for advanced training and study. Some have completed their training and returned, providing a guarantee for the discipline’s long-term, sustained development.

Shinan Inpatient Unit Team

Laoshan Inpatient Unit Team

West Coast Inpatient Unit Team

3. Specialty Highlights

The Department of Gastroenterology is distinguished by five principal research directions: “the diagnosis and treatment of early digestive tract cancer,” “ERCP interventional diagnosis and treatment of biliary and pancreatic diseases,” “the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal motility disorders,” “the early diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer,” and “comprehensive treatment and nutritional support for severe pancreatitis.” It is capable of diagnosing and treating a wide range of difficult and critical digestive system diseases.

(1) Diagnosis and treatment of early digestive tract cancer: Gastric cancer screening can be provided for high-risk groups, including testing and typing for Helicobacter pylori infection and measurement of serum pepsinogen and gastrin. Chromoendoscopy/narrow-band imaging (NBI) combined with magnifying endoscopy can be used to improve the diagnostic rate for early cancers of the digestive tract (esophagus, stomach, and colon). Techniques including EMR (endoscopic mucosal resection) and ESD (endoscopic submucosal dissection) are used for minimally invasive treatment of early digestive tract cancer and precancerous lesions, achieving tumor eradication; the department’s diagnostic and treatment standards are leading in the province and advanced nationally.

(2) Endoscopic minimally invasive treatment of biliary-pancreatic diseases and digestive tract mucosal and submucosal lesions: The department performs endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), endoscopic sphincterotomy of the duodenal papilla (EST), pancreaticobiliary stent placement, nasobiliary drainage, and other procedures, enabling many patients with biliary tract and pancreatic diseases to avoid surgery. These procedures offer the advantages of less trauma, lower cost, and shorter hospital stays. The department was among the earlier institutions to perform tissue adhesive injection for gastric fundal varices, esophageal variceal band ligation, and sclerotherapy injection for the treatment of bleeding from ruptured esophageal and gastric-fundal varices associated with cirrhosis. In addition, endoscopic ultrasonography and fine-needle puncture techniques offer unique advantages in the diagnosis and treatment of submucosal tumors of the digestive tract, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer. POEM (peroral endoscopic myotomy for achalasia), STER (submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection), and EFTR (endoscopic full-thickness resection), as newer endoscopic minimally invasive treatment techniques developed in recent years, have reached a leading level within the province.

(3) Diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of liver disease: The department was among the earlier institutions to perform ultrasound- or CT-guided liver biopsy, percutaneous drainage of liver abscesses, percutaneous drainage of hepatic cysts, absolute alcohol injection, and other procedures. Ultrasound- or CT-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and high-intensity focused ultrasound equipment can be used. In collaboration with the Department of Interventional Radiology, the department provides nonsurgical treatment for liver cancer, including radiofrequency or microwave ablation and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), thereby extending patients’ survival.

(4) Diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal motility disorders and enteral and parenteral nutrition: The department was among the earlier institutions to introduce gastrointestinal motility monitoring and 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring. It has reached a leading level within the province in the diagnosis and treatment of functional and motility-related gastrointestinal diseases, particularly in research on diabetic gastroparesis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). By conducting a national multicenter study of nutritional risk, it further standardized enteral and parenteral nutritional support and nutritional support treatment for critical illnesses such as severe pancreatitis, effectively improving patient outcomes and reducing mortality. It also participated in drafting the “Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Pancreatitis” of the Pancreatology Group of the Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, Chinese Medical Association.

4. Medical Technology

The department performs a range of endoscopic minimally invasive treatments, including ERCP, ESD, EUS, and POEM, as well as TACE, radiofrequency (RFA), and microwave ablation for liver cancer. It now has a state-of-the-art endoscopic diagnosis and treatment center and was the first department in Qingdao to carry out a number of related diagnostic and treatment techniques, including endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), endoscopic tumor excavation (ESE), endoscopic full-thickness resection of lesions (EFR), submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection (STER), and POEM. Both its technical level and the number of completed cases are leading in Shandong Province. These endoscopic minimally invasive treatments offer the advantages of less trauma, faster recovery, and lower cost, enabling many patients with early digestive tract cancer and submucosal tumors to avoid open abdominal surgery. In July 2015, the province’s first comprehensive endoscopy training center began operation in the Science, Education and Research Building of the hospital’s West Coast campus, providing strong support for the future training of high-level digestive endoscopy physicians.

5. Research and Education

The department conscientiously implements the strategy of “strengthening medicine through science and technology” and pursues research innovation. In 2010, it was approved as a training site for doctoral students. It currently has 1 collaborative postdoctoral supervisor, 3 doctoral supervisors, and 8 master’s supervisors. In recent years, it has trained nearly 100 doctoral and master’s graduates and undertaken multiple levels of undergraduate, seven-year-program, and South Asian international-student teaching and clinical internship tasks for the School of Medicine of Qingdao University. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, it organized 6 national and provincial continuing-education conferences and 8 provincial- and municipal-level gastroenterology and digestive endoscopy conferences, inviting more than 10 foreign experts and nearly 30 domestic experts to give lectures at the hospital. From 2011 to 2016, the department team participated in the international collaborative project “Asian Study on Helicobacter pylori Infection and Gastric Cancer Prevention,” involving 5 Asian countries. Over the past 5 years, it has undertaken more than 10 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and at the provincial or ministerial level, published more than 100 papers in core journals in China and abroad, received 4 provincial- and municipal-level Medical Science and Technology Progress Awards, and served as chief editor or contributing editor for multiple medical monographs.

6. Patient Guide

(1) Department Locations

Outpatient Department Shinan Campus: 4th floor of the Outpatient Building

Laoshan Campus: 2nd floor, Area A

West Coast Campus: 2nd floor, Abdominal Disease Center

Inpatient Wards Shinan Campus: 5th floor of the First Inpatient Department

Laoshan Campus: 5th floor, Area A

West Coast Campus: 11th floor, Building B

(2) Consultation Telephone Numbers

Shinan Campus: 82911303

Laoshan Campus: 82913151

West Coast Campus: 82919631