Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Cardiology Department

The Department of Integrative Chinese-Western Cardiology, after more than 30 years of development, has, under the leadership of Academician Chen Keji (Director of the National Center for Chinese-Western Integrative Cardiovascular Diseases), Director Wu Zemin, Director Shi Zaixiang, Director Huang Li, and Director Li Xianlun, become a modern clinical department integrating medical care, scientific research, and teaching. It is a key discipline of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a “Cardiovascular Disease Interventional Diagnosis and Treatment Training Base” of the Ministry of Health and the China Association of Chinese Medicine, and an important component of the hospital’s “National Center for Chinese-Western Integrative Medicine.” The department has nationally and internationally renowned Chinese-Western integrative cardiovascular experts, a first-class talent echelon, and advanced instruments and equipment. Focusing on cardiovascular diseases that seriously endanger human health, with the improvement of clinical efficacy as its core, it highlights the characteristics of Chinese-Western integrative diagnosis and treatment, fully leverages the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine in “preventing disease before its onset and preventing progression after disease has developed,” and innovates and develops on the basis of inheritance. In recent years, under the leadership of Professor Li Xianlun, a renowned domestic cardiovascular disease expert, the entire team has kept pace with the times and attracted a large number of patients from all over the country through its superb medical skills, rigorous and efficient work style, and warm service attitude, receiving unanimous praise.

Composition of Department Personnel:

The department is headed by Professor Li Xianlun, with Associate Professor Li Lin as Deputy Director and Chief Nurse Wang Qiao as Head Nurse. The department has 6 chief physicians, 5 deputy chief physicians, 4 attending physicians, 4 resident physicians, 1 technician, and 15 nurses. More than 50% of the department’s personnel hold doctoral or higher degrees. The department has 1 national-level renowned veteran traditional Chinese medicine physician and Capital Famous TCM Physician, 2 academic leaders, and 4 interventional specialists; there are 2 doctoral supervisors and 4 master’s supervisors. The department serves as the chair unit of the Professional Committee of Blood Activation and Stasis Removal of the China Association of Chinese Medicine, the chair unit of the Professional Committee of Cardiac Interventional Therapy and Rehabilitation of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, the deputy chair unit of the Cardiac Intervention Branch of the China Association of Chinese Medicine, and the deputy chair unit of the Microcirculation Professional Committee of the Chinese Association of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine.

Professor Shi Zaixiang, the department’s chief expert, a national-level renowned veteran traditional Chinese medicine physician, a member of the third, fourth, and fifth groups of renowned veteran traditional Chinese medicine and pharmaceutical experts nationwide, and a Capital Famous TCM Physician, has devoted many years to the study of qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome. He has developed the traditional Chinese medicine theory of “qi, blood, and water,” established characteristic traditional Chinese medicine drugs and methods for the treatment of multiple diseases, and, taking the treatment of coronary heart disease with the method of raising yang and eliminating stasis as an example, was the first to create Shengxian Quyu Decoction. He also established the method of warming and subduing to coordinate various therapeutic methods for treating coronary heart disease complicated by atrial fibrillation, and developed multiple compound traditional Chinese medicine preparations, exerting broad influence in China. Professor Huang Li, academic leader of Cardiovascular Science of Chinese-Western Integrative Medicine, a key specialty of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 12th Five-Year Plan, innovatively proposed the therapeutic theory of “primarily regulating the acquired constitution (the spleen and stomach), supplemented by nourishing the congenital constitution (kidney yin), and regulating the overall yin-yang balance,” and developed Sangqi Qingxuan Granules for hypertension. In the treatment of coronary heart disease, she was the first to create Qishao Tongmai Decoction, based on the therapeutic principle of “supplementing qi, invigorating blood, resolving stasis, and calming the spirit,” which has been widely used and well received in tertiary hospitals and primary community settings. Professor Du Jinxing is a renowned Chinese medicine expert in cardio-renal diseases in China and is particularly skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of simultaneous heart and kidney diseases. He innovatively proposed four major concepts: “integrating Chinese and Western medicine, combining the ancient and the modern as well as the Chinese and the foreign, combining the macro and the micro, and combining classical formulas with contemporary formulas.” He has developed multiple formulas for treating cardio-renal diseases, with significant efficacy and a high level of public recognition.

Outpatient and Inpatient Facilities:

After more than 30 years of development, the Department of Integrative Chinese-Western Cardiology has formed a department with distinctive characteristics of Chinese-Western integrative medicine and the integration of the characteristic strengths of multiple advantageous diseases. The annual outpatient volume exceeds 60,000 visits, and nearly 3,000 patients are discharged from the inpatient department each year. The department currently has 50 beds, with an accompanying intensive care unit and an independent catheterization laboratory, equipped with intensive care equipment, noninvasive ventilators, and other devices. The department’s traditional Chinese medicine team has developed multiple in-house proprietary Chinese medicine preparations and established standardized Chinese-Western integrative clinical pathways. At present, more than 1,600 cardiac interventional procedures are performed annually, including PCI, pacemaker implantation, ICD and CRT-D implantation, congenital heart disease closure, left atrial appendage closure, TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation), and other cutting-edge technologies in the field. In addition, the department has relatively comprehensive cardiovascular clinical examination facilities, including a noninvasive electrophysiological examination room and an echocardiography room.

Introduction to Diagnostic and Treatment Equipment:

The department has advanced DSA angiography equipment, a Philips excimer laser ablation system, a coronary rotational atherectomy system, a multichannel electrophysiological recorder, a coronary fractional flow reserve recorder, a Philips EPIQ ultrasound diagnostic system, an intravascular ultrasound system, an intra-aortic balloon pump, multiple electrocardiographic, blood pressure, and blood oxygen monitors, a 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography analysis system, a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure analysis system, and other equipment.

Characteristics of Departmental Diagnosis and Treatment:

The department focuses closely on key diseases in the specialty, provides full-cycle disease diagnosis, treatment, and care, collaborates with member institutions of the medical consortium, establishes a vertical disease management platform, and adheres to the combination of innovation and inheritance as well as the integration of medical care, education, and research. It has initially established a cardiovascular department featuring distinctive traditional Chinese medicine, proficient Western medical techniques, Chinese-Western collaboration, and a demonstrative role. The department has unique advantages in the treatment of hypertension, coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, heart failure, and other diseases.

The department specializes in using qi-benefiting and qi-moving, blood-invigorating and stasis-resolving traditional Chinese medicines to treat coronary heart disease. It created Shengxian Quyu Decoction for patients with angina pectoris caused by sinking of the great qi in the chest and qi deficiency with blood stasis. In addition, it separately developed Sangqi Qingxuan Granules, Shengxian Yuxiao Formula, and Dingji Fumai Decoction for patients with hypertension, coronary heart disease complicated by diabetes, and atrial fibrillation, respectively, with significant efficacy. Most of the department’s cardiac interventional procedures are performed on high-risk and complex cases, with a high success rate and few complications. The one-time successful recanalization rate for chronic total occlusion (CTO) lesions of the coronary arteries exceeds 95%, reaching an internationally leading level. In cardiac rehabilitation, from 2015 to 2020, the Department of Integrative Chinese-Western Cardiology successfully held six consecutive sessions of the “National Forum on Integrative Chinese-Western Interventional Cardiology” and successfully held three sessions of the “Annual Academic Meeting of the Professional Committee of Cardiac Interventional Therapy and Rehabilitation of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine.” Entrusted by the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine and the China Association of Chinese Medicine, it took the lead in drafting the “Expert Consensus on Integrative Chinese-Western Cardiac Rehabilitation after PCI.”

Scientific Research Achievements of the Department:

Our department has undertaken dozens of research projects, including key projects of the National 12th Five-Year Plan, multiple General Program and Young Scientists Fund projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, project topics of the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, special projects for scientific research on capital health development, special projects for scientific and technological research on traditional Chinese medicine and pharmaceuticals of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and key projects of the educational science research topics of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The department has a large database of patients with hypertension, coronary heart disease, and heart failure. It has close collaborations within the hospital with the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Department of Integrative Chinese-Western Oncology in areas including heart failure rehabilitation and cardio-oncology; outside the hospital, it has maintained long-term collaborative exchanges with multiple scientific research partner institutions and platforms.

Teaching in the Department:

The department currently undertakes the training of graduate students (academic and professional) from Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, the Peking University Health Science Center, Peking Union Medical College, and Capital Medical University, as well as standardized residency training and specialist training. The degree attainment rate in the year of graduate completion is 100%. Many of the department’s teaching supervisors have received the hospital’s titles of Outstanding Resident Physician Supervisor, Outstanding Supervisor, and Outstanding Teacher for consecutive years. In addition, the department serves as the inheritance base for Professor Shi Zaixiang, a nationally renowned veteran traditional Chinese medicine physician, and multiple professors undertake the national master-apprentice training program.

Honors Received by the Department:

The department has received the National Science and Technology Progress Award multiple times, the National Excellent Medical Book Award, and the Integrative Chinese-Western Medicine Contribution Award. It has also received the Science and Technology Award of the Chinese Association of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, the Beijing Science and Technology Award, the Science and Technology Progress Award of China-Japan Friendship Hospital, and other awards multiple times.

Other Important Matters:

Our department has successively provided counterpart support for the development of medical and health services in Yulin, Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and other areas; helped the recipient institutions implement appropriate diagnostic and treatment technologies; and improved the medical service capacity of the regions receiving counterpart support. In 2008, it participated in and successfully completed the medical support work for the Olympic Games. In response to epidemics, our department made outstanding contributions in combating the 2003 SAS epidemic. When the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic struck, our department dispatched multiple medical personnel to support the front line of epidemic prevention and control.

Location within the Hospital: The department’s outpatient clinic is located in the Cardiovascular Disease Consultation Area on the 2nd floor of Building B of the Outpatient Department (on the west side of the payment hall on the 2nd floor and on the east side of the information desk); the inpatient ward is located on the east side of the 9th floor of Building A of the Inpatient Department.

Department Telephone Numbers: Outpatient Clinic: 010-84205083, Inpatient Ward: 010-84205041, Nurses’ Station: 010-84205043

IV. Introduction to the Specialized Disease Outpatient Clinics Planned by the Department

Established every Monday afternoon: Pacemaker Follow-up Clinic

Established every Monday and Thursday: Coronary Heart Disease (Chest Pain) Clinic

Established every Thursday: Heart Failure Rehabilitation Clinic

Established every Tuesday: Hypertension Clinic, Cardiovascular Metabolic Disease Clinic

Established every Wednesday: Dual-Heart Clinic, Subhealth (Preventive Treatment of Disease) Clinic