Gastrointestinal Surgery

The predecessor of the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University was established in the early 1940s. Through the joint efforts of several generations, the discipline has continued to expand, and its academic standing and clinical standards have risen steadily. It has developed a complete diagnostic and treatment system for the standardized, individualized comprehensive treatment of gastric cancer and for clinical and basic research, and in 2002 it took the lead in establishing the Southern Liaoning Gastric Cancer Cooperative Group, securing a nationally first-class and internationally advanced level of diagnosis, treatment and research in gastrointestinal oncology.

In 1984 the department became one of the first master's degree training bases of Dalian Medical University, and in 1996 it was approved as a doctoral degree program; 85% of its staff have studied or trained abroad, one member receives a special government allowance, one serves as vice chair of a national professional society, four serve as committee members of national professional societies, and a group of well-known experts from home and abroad act as visiting professors, giving regular lectures and technical cooperation. The department has trained more than 100 master's students and more than 10 doctoral students.

As the largest base for gastrointestinal tumour diagnosis and treatment in Southern Liaoning, with a nationally leading standard of care, it has first-class equipment, 60 fixed beds, an average of about 2,000 inpatients per year and an average outpatient volume of about 25,000 visits per year over the past three years. Nearly one third of inpatients each year come from other regions or are referred from other hospitals. While maintaining standardized treatment of gastric and colorectal cancer, and taking into account tumour site and stage, the department pioneered in China, for early gastric cancer, individualized function-preserving limited surgery that preserves the pylorus, the celiac branch of the vagus nerve and the greater omentum, reducing the incidence of postoperative bloating, acid regurgitation and gallstones; for early low rectal cancer it pioneered sphincter-preserving surgery that retains the external anal sphincter. For advanced gastrointestinal tumours it provides perioperative chemoradiotherapy together with extended radical resection involving removal of adjacent organs. These individualized regimens have achieved notable results: they preserve more organ function and improve quality of life for patients with early gastrointestinal tumours, and greatly increase the proportion of curative surgery for advanced tumours, prolonging survival. In recent years the department has also pioneered in China jackknife-position abdominoperineal resection for low rectal cancer, introduced nerve-sparing radical rectal cancer surgery in the province, and combined endoscopic and laparoscopic resection of early gastrointestinal stromal tumours, early cancers and benign tumours. Laparoscopic minimally invasive technology is the leading surgical technique of the twenty-first century; in 2002, aiming at the world frontier, the department took the lead in Northeast China in performing laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy and colorectal cancer surgery; with survival unchanged, patients have less postoperative pain, faster gastrointestinal recovery and shorter hospital stays, clearly superior to open surgery, and the results have been published in leading journals at home and abroad and reported by invitation at international and national gastrointestinal oncology conferences, attracting wide attention and praise from peers.

As a leading team in gastrointestinal surgery in Dalian, the department has not rested on its clinical achievements: the whole department is committed to research, especially basic and clinical research on the occurrence and development of gastrointestinal tumours, with outstanding results. In recent years it has undertaken about 20 national, provincial and municipal projects, including 'Study on the correlation between peritoneal milky spots and peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer' and 'The role of clustered-cell-type micrometastasis of omental milky spots in gastric cancer stem cells and progenitor cells' at national level, and 'Basic research on the effect of chemokine decoy receptors on lymphatic metastasis of colorectal cancer' at provincial and municipal levels, with research funding of nearly 10 million yuan. It has won one first prize and several second and third prizes for scientific and technological progress at provincial and municipal levels. It has published more than 200 papers in domestic and international journals and enjoys high academic influence at home and abroad.

Nursing in the department is organized around the service philosophy of patient-centred care, taking reform of the nursing service model as the entry point and fulfilment of nurses' duties as the goal. It actively provides high-quality nursing services, strengthens the discipline of nursing, and offers patients whole-course, comprehensive, professional, high-quality and humane nursing with love, patience, care and perseverance. In inspections by the Ministry of Health and provincial health departments on behalf of the hospital, it has been unanimously praised by leaders and experts and has repeatedly brought honour to the hospital. In 2011 it was successfully included among the first 20 national key clinical nursing specialties of the Ministry of Health.

In the next three years the hospital plans to invest more than 20 million yuan to purchase robots for more precise and complex gastrointestinal surgery, complete the expansion of new wards and build a specialty laboratory. Taking this as an opportunity, aiming at the frontiers of the discipline and meeting major national needs, it will further build a comprehensive gastrointestinal tumour treatment centre and a clinical experimental centre for gastrointestinal surgery, promptly update and introduce advanced equipment, keep the overall level of the medical environment and equipment first-class in China, and reach international advanced levels in informatization of the specialty.

The medical and nursing staff of the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University will uphold the service philosophy of doing our best in whatever we do, carry forward the team spirit of working together and striving for excellence through innovation, and protect the health of the people of the coastal city with a first-class team, first-class technology and first-class service.