Neurosurgery

The Department of Neurosurgery at Dongguan People's Hospital is the largest neurosurgical specialty in the city and has the most comprehensive range of subspecialties. It is a Guangdong provincial key clinical specialty, the city's only provincial training base for neurovascular interventional surgery, the city's first national standardized residency training base in neurosurgery, the chairing institution of the Neurosurgery Branch of the Dongguan Medical Association, and the leading institution of the Dongguan Neurosurgery Specialty Alliance. It was also among the first disciplines in Dongguan to obtain authorization for treating tumors of the nervous system and for neurovascular interventional diagnosis and treatment. The department is a postgraduate training base for Southern Medical University and Guangdong Medical University.

The department has three inpatient wards and 152 beds, including 25 intensive care beds in an independently managed unit staffed by specialist intensive care physicians and dedicated intensive care nurses. It has one advanced hybrid DSA operating room equipped with a Siemens Artis pheno DSA system, a MAGNUS 1180.01B2 powered operating table suitable for hybrid operating rooms, Leica MS-3 and Pentero900 dual-fluorescence neurosurgical microscopes, neuroendoscopes, vascular ultrasound, ultrasonic aspiration, neuroendoscopes, stereotactic equipment, and NSK and Medtronic high-speed craniotomy systems, among other internationally advanced neurosurgical and monitoring equipment. Its annual volume of treated cases and emergency rescues ranks among the highest in the city. For several consecutive years, it has ranked within the top eight in the province in discipline rankings assessed by the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission using DRGS data, and it enjoys a strong reputation within the province.

Specialty areas 1. Cerebrovascular surgery: With advanced microscopes, neuroendoscopes, neuronavigation and stereotactic systems, and a hybrid DSA operating room, the department routinely performs clipping of intracranial aneurysms, resection of vascular malformations, and neurointerventional treatment of complex cerebrovascular disorders such as intracranial aneurysms, cerebral arteriovenous malformations and arteriovenous fistulas of the brain and spinal cord. It also routinely performs interventional treatment and bypass surgery for moyamoya disease and chronic ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

2. Neuro-oncology: The department has established a care pathway covering diagnosis, surgery and comprehensive postoperative treatment. It is proficient in endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal resection of pituitary tumors and microsurgical resection of deep brain tumors, aiming for maximal resection with minimal injury. Functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) are used together for precise preoperative mapping of brain function. Intraoperative ultrasound, electrophysiological monitoring and neuronavigation are routinely used, greatly improving the safety of important functional areas involved in movement and language.

3. Neurotrauma: The department is one of the core components of the hospital's trauma care system. It has long provided emergency consultations and support for the treatment of traumatic brain injury at hospitals in all towns and subdistricts of Dongguan, and serves as a benchmark for neurotrauma care in the city. Working closely with the trauma center, it has established a full care network spanning prehospital emergency care, fast-track in-hospital rescue and postoperative rehabilitation.

4. Functional neurosurgery: The focus is functional restoration in movement disorders, epilepsy, chronic pain, spastic hemiplegia and disorders of consciousness. A full-cycle care system spans precise preoperative evaluation, minimally invasive surgery, and individualized postoperative device programming and rehabilitation management. The department routinely performs advanced brain–computer-interface-related procedures, including deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) for hemiplegia and drug-resistant epilepsy, and spinal cord stimulation (SCS) to promote recovery of consciousness in chronic disorders of consciousness. It also routinely provides disease-specific surgical care for hemifacial spasm and trigeminal neuralgia.

5. Neurocritical care: This subspecialty builds an integrated system of intensive monitoring, life support and specialist neurological treatment. Using advanced monitoring technologies and equipment with individualized treatment plans, it diagnoses and treats different types of traumatic brain injury and neurocritical conditions, providing a complete care chain from rapid response to systematic rehabilitation.

6. Spinal canal and spinal cord diseases: The department routinely performs microsurgical resection of tumors in the spinal canal and interventional embolization of spinal vascular lesions. It can now carry out embolization and microsurgery sequentially within the same operative session. This one-stop approach provides an improved solution for complex spinal vascular disease, increasing cure rates and effectively reducing operative risks.

Department director Xu Hongwu is a Chief Physician, holds a doctoral degree, is a master's supervisor and has been recognized as an Outstanding Young Medical Talent of Guangdong. He is currently director of the hospital's Neurosurgery Department and of its standardized residency training base in neurosurgery.

Academic appointments: • Vice chair, Cerebrovascular Intervention Committee, Guangdong Primary Medicine Association; • Vice chair, Brain Disease Precision Diagnosis, Treatment and Repair Branch, Guangdong Society for Brain Development and Brain Disease Prevention and Treatment; • Standing committee member, Neurosurgery Committee, Guangdong Hospital Association; • Standing committee member, Neurosurgery Branch, Guangdong Medical Association; • Standing committee member, Neural Repair Committee, Guangdong Medical Doctor Association; • Member, Neurointervention Committee, Neurosurgery Branch, Guangdong Medical Doctor Association; • Chair, Neurosurgery Branch, Dongguan Medical Association; • Vice president, Enhanced Recovery in Neurosurgery Branch, Guangdong Association of Rehabilitation Medicine; • Vice chair, Stroke Prevention and Rehabilitation Branch, Guangdong Health Care Association, among other appointments.

Clinical expertise: He has extensive experience in the diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of neurosurgical diseases. His specialties include interventional and minimally invasive surgery for cerebrovascular disease, minimally invasive neuroendoscopic surgery for pituitary and other brain tumors, and neuromodulation for neurological impairments such as hemiplegia and coma.