Traditional Chinese Medicine

The Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University is a Demonstration Unit for Traditional Chinese Medicine in National General Hospitals, a key TCM specialty under Liaoning Province’s 13th Five-Year Plan, a standardized resident training base in Liaoning Province, and the southern Liaoning training base of the Liaoning Medical Oxygen Chamber Clinical Quality Control Center. It has TCM outpatient, acupuncture outpatient, soft-tissue injury outpatient, hyperbaric oxygen treatment, and comprehensive TCM treatment rooms, among others, with 27 beds available in the ward.

I. History of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine

The department was established in the 1950s. Professor Cao Zhonghe, its director, pioneered the development of “Stone-Expelling Decoction” and “Pancreas-Clearing Decoction,” which had a major impact in China. He pioneered integrated Chinese and Western medicine treatment for “stone diseases” and “pancreatitis,” was one of the founders of our hospital’s acute abdomen specialty, and laid the foundation for integrated treatment of acute abdominal diseases. In the 1980s, Professor Liu Kan used the Wechsler Memory Scale for testing and analysis, summarized the characteristics of aging in older people, and on this basis analyzed changes in cardiac cycle intervals and post-exercise changes in elderly patients with heart-qi deficiency, the time for heart rate normalization after exercise, and the main causes of death among 1,252 middle-aged and elderly people, offering scientific recommendations on disease prevention for middle-aged and elderly people. In the 1990s, Professor Jiao Ruixiang developed “Ganfukang Decoction” and, using molecular biology techniques, confirmed that it had an antifibrotic effect on experimental hepatic fibrosis and a significant preventive effect against endotoxemia in experimental cirrhosis; it can, to a certain extent, prevent or reverse the progression of chronic liver disease. The research team guided by Professor Jiao Ruixiang devoted itself to research and developed “Sailitong Laxative Weight-Loss Tea,” which provides dual benefits of disease prevention and health care through lipid-lowering and weight-loss effects, achieving good social and economic benefits. Under the leadership of Professor Jiang Yongshan, director of the department, the department was approved as a Demonstration Unit for TCM Work in National General Hospitals in 2017, and as a key TCM specialty for brain diseases in Liaoning Province’s 13th Five-Year Plan in 2018.

II. Distinctive Medical Technologies

At the Changchun Road campus, the department has TCM outpatient, acupuncture outpatient, soft-tissue injury outpatient, comprehensive TCM treatment, and physiotherapy clinics; at the Lianhe Road campus, it has the second hyperbaric oxygen treatment room; at the Jinpu campus, it has the third TCM outpatient and third acupuncture outpatient clinics. The department’s inpatient ward is currently at the Jinpu campus, with 27 beds. Centering on “medical technology,” the department improves patients’ quality of life, develops distinctive TCM therapies, promotes an integrated Chinese-Western service model, and fully applies various integrated techniques, including Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, auricular points, moxibustion, cupping, tuina, acupoint application, acupoint injection, external herbal medicine, hyperbaric oxygen, PNF technology, spiral muscle-chain technology, myofascial trigger-point technology, and physical-agent therapy, to treat various diseases.

The department’s diseases with particular treatment advantages include:

(I) TCM neurological diseases: vertigo (hypertension, cervical spondylosis, insufficient cerebral blood supply, etc.), headache (migraine, intractable headache, etc.), insomnia (sleep disorders), stroke (cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral thrombosis, cerebral infarction, etc.), prodromal stroke (transient ischemic attack), facial paralysis (facial neuritis), etc.

(II) TCM spleen-and-stomach diseases: acid regurgitation (gastroesophageal reflux disease), gastric distension (functional dyspepsia), gastric ulcer (peptic ulcer), stomachache (chronic gastritis), abdominal pain and diarrhea (irritable bowel syndrome, chronic colitis), constipation, etc.

(III) Diseases particularly suitable for hyperbaric oxygen: carbon monoxide poisoning and delayed encephalopathy, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, vascular headache, poor healing after fracture surgery, spinal cord injury, replantation of severed fingers, skin-flap transplantation, retinal vascular occlusion, optic atrophy, crush syndrome, sudden deafness, etc.

(IV) Soft-tissue injuries: soft-tissue injuries of the limbs and spine, neck and low-back pain, spine-related diseases, osteoarticular diseases, and various nerve entrapment syndromes; rehabilitation after surgery for limb tendons, ligaments, or fractures.

(V) Other diseases: TCM gynecological diseases (breast hyperplasia, chronic pelvic inflammatory disease, various premenstrual disorders, irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, postpartum diseases, menopausal syndrome, etc.); miscellaneous TCM diseases (herpes zoster, fever due to internal injury, depression, eczema, allergic diseases, etc.); generalized fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, anorexia, indigestion, spontaneous sweating, night sweats, low-grade fever, and other discomforts occurring after surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, etc.; fatigue syndrome, etc.

III. Continuous Progress and Breakthroughs in Scientific Research and Teaching

Since its establishment in the 1950s, the department has consistently used TCM clinical practice to drive TCM research and teaching, and TCM research and teaching to promote clinical development, comprehensively advancing its internal development and coordinated progress in TCM medicine, education, and research. It has led or participated in more than 20 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the provincial Department of Science and Technology, the provincial Department of Education, the Dalian Science and Technology Bureau, the Dalian Municipal Health Commission, and hospital-level research projects of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University; it has served as chief editor, deputy chief editor, or contributing editor of more than 10 monographs and published more than 100 papers.

As a standardized resident training base and a collaborative base for standardized training of TCM residents in Liaoning Province, the department undertakes each year TCM teaching and clinical instruction for the clinical medicine program, integrated Chinese-Western medicine program, International College, Continuing Education College, and Zhongshan College of Dalian Medical University. The TCM teaching and research section currently has 4 master’s supervisors and can enroll postgraduate students in internal TCM medicine, integrated Chinese-Western medicine, and acupuncture and tuina; to date, it has trained more than 30 master’s students. It actively conducts and promotes reforms in TCM education, has led or participated in 4 teaching-reform projects under the Liaoning Department of Education’s 13th Five-Year Plan, the Liaoning Teaching Evaluation Committee, and Dalian Medical University undergraduate teaching reform projects, contributed to 5 textbooks, and published more than 5 papers on teaching reform.

IV. Development of the TCM Talent Structure

The department attaches importance to talent cultivation and team development. Its physicians have comprehensive professional backgrounds covering TCM, integrated Chinese-Western medicine, acupuncture and tuina, and other fields. Many have held academic positions in national, provincial, and municipal medical associations, and 2 serve as editorial-board members of journals. The department currently has 6 chief physicians, 2 deputy chief physicians, 5 attending physicians, 1 resident physician, 1 deputy chief technician, 3 supervising technicians, and 2 technicians. Among them are 1 national innovation backbone talent in TCM and Chinese medicine appointed by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2 disciples of renowned senior TCM experts in Dalian, and 2 doctors with doctoral degrees.

Seventy years have brought both heavy responsibilities and a long road ahead; seventy years have carried the past forward into the future. The Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University has always upheld the hospital motto, “Promote the Way and Practice It Earnestly,” kept pace with the hospital’s progress, and remained true to its original mission while striving to become a nationally renowned TCM specialty. We welcome you with first-class facilities, high-quality service, and outstanding medical skills.