Urology Center

The Urology Centre was founded in 1964 under the organisation of Academician Wu Jieping, the founder of modern urology in China. In 1972, Professor Yu Huiyuan and Professor Hou Zongchang, in collaboration with Professor Mei Hua of Guangzhou Zhongshan Hospital, completed China's first related-donor allogeneic kidney transplantation. In 1997 the Beijing Organ Transplant Matching Centre was established; in 1998 the Urology Institute of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau was founded; in 1999 the department was designated a key discipline of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau; and in 2010 it became the director unit of the Department of Urology of Capital Medical University. Through successive generations of directors — Yu Huiyuan, Wu Guoquan, Zhang Yuhai, Du Lindong, Tian Ye and Niu Yinong — the torch has been passed on for more than 60 years, and the department has continued to grow stronger, integrating medical care, teaching and research in coordinated development. In 2024 it was approved as a Beijing Municipal Clinical Key Specialty, and in 2025 as a National Clinical Key Specialty.

The department now has 66 physicians and 94 nurses, including 34 with senior professional titles and 22 who have returned from studies abroad, 5 doctoral supervisors and 16 master's supervisors. It has more than 20 person-times of high-level talent of various categories, including a Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Programme talent of the China Association for Science and Technology, overseas high-level talents, discipline leaders and academic backbones of the Beijing health system, Beijing Science and Technology New Stars, Beijing physician-scientists and Qingmiao talents.

The department runs five wards on three campuses in Xicheng, Tongzhou and Shunyi, with 225 open beds, and has sub-specialties in kidney transplantation, urological tumours, urolithiasis, prostatic diseases and andrology, and functional urology. It offers clinics run by renowned expert teams in kidney transplantation, tumours and stones, as well as a multidisciplinary prostate cancer team clinic. Supported by advanced equipment such as robotic surgical systems, 3D laparoscopy and various laser platforms, it has built a comprehensive diagnostic and treatment system characterised by minimally invasive techniques and covering the full spectrum of urological diseases. In 2025 outpatient visits totalled nearly 150,000, inpatients exceeded 12,500, and more than 5,000 robotic, laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures were completed.

Our urology department was in the first batch of master's and doctoral training sites of Capital Medical University and is the director unit of the university's Department of Urology. It is also a Beijing specialised base for the standardised training of surgical residents, a Beijing training base for organ transplant specialists, and a Beijing training base for artificial intelligence-assisted treatment technology. The Urology Institute of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission is based here, and the department has its own independent urology laboratory.

[Leading-edge technology, distinctive specialty features]

Kidney transplantation sub-specialty: in the late 1960s the department took the lead in China in introducing haemodialysis for chronic renal insufficiency; in the 1970s it collaborated in completing China's first related-donor allogeneic kidney transplantation and established the country's first kidney transplant ward; and it chief-edited China's first monograph, Blood Purification. From the 1990s to the present, more than 5,000 kidney transplants have been performed, including over 800 living-related donor transplants, with volume and quality ranking first in Beijing and among the foremost in China. The department was the first in China to carry out robot-assisted kidney transplantation, robot-assisted transplant nephrectomy and robot-assisted repair of the transplant ureter; it has innovated desensitisation protocols for ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation, established a comprehensive management protocol for living kidney donors, and participated in the formulation of 23 national guidelines and diagnostic and treatment standards. It is a Beijing training base for organ transplant specialists and has trained a large number of accomplished kidney transplant surgeons.

Urological tumour sub-specialty: in the early 1970s the department was the first in China to report systematically on the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal hyperplastic diseases. In 1972, when Premier Zhou Enlai was diagnosed with bladder cancer, Academician Wu Jieping headed the medical team and Professor Yu Huiyuan was a member involved in the treatment. In 1990 its continent, low-pressure ileal neobladder reconstruction after radical cystectomy won a science and technology award from the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau. In 2009 it completed China's first totally laparoscopic nephrectomy with removal of a vena caval tumour thrombus. Since 2023 it has carried out laparoscopic and robot-assisted radical cystectomy with intracorporeal orthotopic neobladder reconstruction and ileal conduit diversion, and the results have been incorporated into the Chinese Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Urological Diseases. In 2025 it was approved as the urology sub-base of the Beijing training base for artificial intelligence-assisted treatment technology. It routinely performs open, laparoscopic and robot-assisted radical cystectomy, nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy via anterior and posterior approaches, complex nephron-sparing surgery for renal tumours, en bloc nephroureterectomy and kidney-sparing partial ureterectomy, and resection of complex adrenal and retroperitoneal tumours, as well as targeted therapy, immunotherapy and chemotherapy for urological cancers and various clinical drug trials, achieving precise and comprehensive tumour diagnosis and treatment.

Urinary stone sub-specialty: it is the earliest and largest centre for the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric stones in China and a centre for complex adult stones in northern China. It was the first in China to establish a systematic treatment system for upper urinary tract stones in children, applies visualised renal puncture technology to complex stones in both children and adults to achieve precise minimally invasive stone fragmentation, uses techniques such as the flexible ureteroscope with a negative-pressure suction sheath and combined multi-endoscope approaches to improve stone-free rates, and has established a full-chain stone prevention and treatment system that effectively reduces recurrence rates.

Functional urology, prostate and andrology sub-specialty: the new classification method for neurogenic bladder and the innovative surgical procedure proposed in the 1980s were included in Campbell-Walsh Urology; in 1989 the department received a technical achievement award from the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau for lengthening the urethra using the bladder trigone and bladder base musculature to treat total urinary incontinence. In the early 1990s it was among the first in China to use microwave therapy combined with electroresection for benign prostatic hyperplasia. At present the centre routinely performs sacral neuromodulation, pelvic floor repair, mid-urethral sling placement and PRP injection; in the prostate and andrology fields it routinely performs laser and plasma enucleation or ablation of the prostate, microsurgical spermatic vein ligation and penile prosthesis implantation; and it has gradually established chronic disease management systems for benign prostatic hyperplasia, female pelvic floor dysfunction and neurogenic bladder.

[Research platform development, innovation-driven growth]

Relying on the Urology Institute of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission and an independent laboratory, the centre has formed an integrated clinical–research–translation platform. In recent years it has undertaken more than 50 national and provincial/ministerial projects with research funding exceeding 40 million yuan; it has published more than 130 SCI-indexed papers in top international journals such as European Urology, with a total impact factor of over 700. As a vice-chair or standing-committee unit of national academic organisations including the Organ Transplantation Branch and the Urology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, the Urologists Branch and the Andrology and Sexual Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, as the leading unit of the kidney transplantation group and the deputy leading unit of the genitourinary tumour group, it has been deeply involved in drafting 33 guidelines and industry standards for kidney transplantation and for Chinese urological and andrological diagnosis and treatment, and actively promotes the translation of innovations and the dissemination of technology.

[Medical humanities, social responsibility]

Upholding the hospital motto of "benevolence and excellence", and rooted in a long history and profound cultural heritage, the Beijing Friendship Hospital Urology Centre adheres to a patient-centred philosophy, continuously improving clinical service capacity, medical quality and medical humanities. In 2023 the centre was approved as a demonstration department for medical humanities construction among Beijing municipal hospitals.

The Urology Centre actively takes part in medical assistance missions, dispatching a total of 11 medical team members. It has established a medical consortium and a remote consultation network, extending technology dissemination to 17 countries worldwide and to all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China. Each year it hosts brand academic conferences such as the Capital Medical University Urology Department High-Quality Development Conference Series, the Upper Urinary Tract Stone Minimally Invasive Treatment Symposium, the Kidney Transplantation New Progress Training Course and the Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Treatment Technology Training Course, training a large number of accomplished medical professionals for the country.

Looking to the future, the Urology Centre will take the development of the National Clinical Key Specialty as an opportunity to continue improving clinical service capacity and medical quality, advance scientific and technological innovation and the translation of results, strengthen teaching and training, and cultivate the Friendship urology culture, contributing to the goal of "reducing people's diseases and improving people's health".