Gastroenterology (Spleen and Stomach Diseases Department) (traditional Chinese medicine)

The Department of Gastroenterology (Department of Spleen and Stomach Diseases) of Chongqing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine was established approximately more than 50 years ago. It is a key specialty, key discipline, and renowned TCM specialty of Chongqing; a development unit for the Bayu academic school of spleen and stomach diseases; the leading institution of the Spleen and Stomach Diseases Special Committee of the Chongqing Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Chongqing Alliance of TCM Spleen and Stomach Disease Specialists; and a training unit for master’s and doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. It has established the hospital’s Clinical Research Center for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Treatment of Pancreatitis, and has four specialty outpatient clinics for chronic atrophic gastritis, pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and gastrointestinal polyps. It has formed a spleen and stomach disease specialty integrating medical treatment, teaching, and scientific research, based on TCM spleen and stomach disease studies and supported by clinical gastroenterology and endoscopic diagnosis and treatment technologies.

The Department of Gastroenterology (Department of Spleen and Stomach Diseases) of Chongqing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine includes the gastroenterology outpatient clinic, wards, a TCM characteristic diagnosis and treatment room, a renowned TCM physician inheritance studio, a digestive endoscopy center, and a digestive function examination room. It currently has 60 beds available for use. It receives more than 140,000 outpatient visits annually and more than 3,000 inpatients monthly. The gastroenterology outpatient clinic has chronic atrophic gastritis and functional gastrointestinal disorders as its superior diseases, while the wards have established a clinical diagnosis and treatment system in which acute pancreatitis, gastrointestinal bleeding, ulcerative colitis, gastrointestinal polyps, and tumors are the superior diseases. At the same time, a series of clinical and experimental studies have been conducted on the diseases mentioned above, continuously improving clinical, teaching, and scientific research capabilities.

Personnel structure: The Department of Gastroenterology currently has 28 physicians, including 7 chief physicians, 3 associate chief physicians, and 14 attending physicians; 6 master’s student supervisors and 2 doctoral student supervisors; 10 doctors and 3 postdoctoral fellows; 2 associate chief nurses and 15 nurses-in-charge. It has Chief TCM Physicians Wang Renqiang, Li Yanping, and Xu Jianzhong, who are renowned TCM physicians of Chongqing and supervising teachers of National TCM Inheritance Studios. It also has a group of young and middle-aged experts who are in the prime of life, possess excellent diagnostic and treatment skills, and have worked on the clinical front line for a long time, including Deputy Dean Yang Xiaojun, Chief TCM Physician Tian Fengliang, Chief TCM Physician Liu Wei, Chief TCM Physician Liao Xiaolin, Associate Chief TCM Physician Chen Wanqun, Associate Chief TCM Physician Tang Zhaorong, and Associate Chief TCM Physician Qiu Hong.

TCM Characteristic Diagnosis and Treatment Room: It provides external application of Chinese medicines and acupoint application therapy, such as Qingyi Zhitong Plaster, Tongbian Quzhi Plaster, Xiaoai Zhitong Plaster, Xiaozhang Plaster, and Zhi Xie Plaster; Chinese medicine herbal pack therapy; Chinese medicine rectal instillation therapy; Chinese medicine ultrasound transdermal treatment; TCM directional drug transdermal treatment; hot herbal compress packs; Chinese medicine medicinal bathing therapy; Chinese medicine rubbing treatment; acupoint injection therapy; acupoint bloodletting treatment; body acupuncture therapy; auricular point therapy; moxibustion therapy; Du moxibustion; tuina treatment; gua sha treatment; cupping treatment; and other therapies.

Digestive Endoscopy Center: It is equipped with electronic gastroscopes and colonoscopes, endoscopic ultrasonography, duodenoscopes, capsule endoscopes, double-balloon enteroscopes, and transnasal gastroscopes. It also has a 13C breath test analyzer, a gastric function detector, and a 24h esophageal pH-impedance and anorectal manometry detector. Painless gastroscopy and colonoscopy examinations and various minimally invasive endoscopic treatments are routinely performed, such as diagnosis of early gastrointestinal cancer, removal of gastrointestinal foreign bodies, emergency endoscopic hemostasis, gastrointestinal polypectomy, endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR), submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection (STER) of tumors, peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA), colonoscopic hemorrhoid ligation and sclerosing agent injection, endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy (ERAT), gastrointestinal stricture dilation and stent placement, ligation and sclerotherapy of esophageal and gastric fundal varices, tissue glue injection, ERCP and duodenal papillotomy, endoscopic bile duct stone extraction and stent placement, and other procedures.

Gastroenterology Outpatient Clinic and Wards: Adhering to medical quality and patient safety as the core, the department highlights the characteristics and advantages of TCM spleen and stomach diseases, adopts integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine + digestive endoscopy as its specialty development direction, continuously optimizes the integrated Chinese and Western medicine diagnosis and treatment plans and diagnosis and treatment standards for superior diseases and other common diseases, and provides safe, effective, and precise diagnosis and treatment for patients with common, difficult, critical, and severe gastrointestinal diseases, serving Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Fujian, and other regions nationwide.

The Department of Gastroenterology emphasizes equal importance on medical care, education, and research. It has received 5 national projects and more than 10 provincial- and ministerial-level projects, published more than 150 papers in domestic and international journals, and successively received 2 provincial science and technology progress awards, 5 municipal awards, and 4 achievement appraisals. It has trained 5 doctoral students and 10 master’s students.

Diseases Diagnosed and Treated: chronic atrophic gastritis, acute and chronic pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), gastrointestinal (esophageal, gastric, intestinal, pancreatic, liver, and biliary) tumors, gastrointestinal bleeding, gastrointestinal polyps, reflux esophagitis, peptic ulcers, dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, emaciation, obesity, fatty liver, alcoholic liver disease, cirrhosis, and others.