Cardiology

1. General overview The Department of Cardiology at Dongguan People's Hospital is the largest specialty service for cardiovascular disease in the Dongguan area. It includes the cardiac intensive care unit (CCU), Cardiology Ward 2, the cardiology service at Puji campus, the chest pain center, echocardiography unit, cardiac function unit and cardiac rehabilitation center. It is a modern specialty integrating clinical care, teaching, interventional training and research, and a first-class cardiology center in China.

The department has developed rapidly in recent years and received numerous national honors. It was accredited as a China Chest Pain Center in 2017 and a China Atrial Fibrillation Center in 2018. It became a Guangdong Chest Pain Center Demonstration Base in 2019. In 2020, it was recognized as a demonstration center for national standardized atrial fibrillation centers, accredited as a China Heart Failure Center, and designated a national cardiogenic stroke prevention and treatment base. In 2022, it was designated three national cardiac intervention training bases — for coronary heart disease, arrhythmias and congenital heart disease — and accredited as a national hypertension control center. It also became a Guangdong key clinical specialty, and director Guo Suxia received the 2022 National Women's Achievement Model award.

In 2023, the department established the Dongguan Heart Failure Alliance. Its cardiovascular nursing and technical training base gained national accreditation, and it received the National Hypertension Control Center Quality Control Star award. In 2024, it gained national accreditation as a cardiac valve intervention center under development, received the Guangdong March 8 Red-Banner Collective award, became a Guangdong chest pain specialist nurse training base, formally opened the MitralClip Regional Technical Training Center, received the National Hypertension Control Center Quality Control Star award, and ranked first in Guangdong chest pain center quality control. In 2025, it became a development unit for a national standardized cardiac rehabilitation center. In 2026, it was accredited among the first national Centers of Excellence for Chest Pain, of which there are only 13 nationwide.

From originally serving Dongguan's urban area and towns, the department now treats patients from cities across Guangdong, including Huizhou, Meizhou, Shantou, Shanwei, Shaoguan, Zhaoqing, Yangjiang and Zhanjiang. Patients from outside the province come from Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Xinjiang and Liaoning, among other provinces and regions. It maintains whole-cycle management from prevention through rehabilitation, strengthens expertise in emergency and critical care and precise interventions, and combines technical capability with compassionate care to provide comprehensive cardiovascular health protection.

2. Team development The CCU primarily treats acute and critical cardiac conditions, including acute myocardial infarction, severe myocarditis and severe heart failure. It received the One-Star National Youth Civilization Unit designation in 2022. It has 22 intensive care beds and 18 general beds; 11 specialist physicians, comprising two Chief Physicians, four Associate Chief Physicians, three Attending Physicians and two Physicians; and 22 nurses, including two nurses of Chief Nurse professional grade, three of Associate Chief Nurse professional grade, eight specialist nurses and one education nurse.

Cardiology Ward 2 primarily treats difficult and complex cardiac conditions, including complex high-risk coronary lesions, refractory heart failure, complex valvular disease, congenital heart disease, various arrhythmias, resistant hypertension and myocardial diseases. It has 56 beds, including three monitored beds; 12 specialist physicians — one Chief Physician, three Associate Chief Physicians, five Attending Physicians and three Physicians — and 19 nurses, including two with senior ranks, three with intermediate ranks, three specialist nurses and one specialist education nurse.

The Puji campus cardiology service includes general and CCU wards, with 40 beds and nine specialist physicians: one Chief Physician, two Associate Chief Physicians, five Attending Physicians and one Resident Physician.

The department records more than 100,000 outpatient visits, over 8,000 inpatient admissions and over 6,000 procedures annually. Under specialty leader Guo Suxia, it has introduced numerous procedures for the first time in Dongguan: percutaneous aortic valve replacement (TAVR), emergency TAVR, leadless pacemaker implantation, zero-radiation dual-chamber pacemaker implantation, closure of a large atrial septal defect using the pulmonary vein release technique, cardiac contractility modulation device implantation (CCM), transcatheter mitral valve clipping, intravascular lithotripsy balloon treatment for complex calcified coronary lesions, and intervention for complex high-risk coronary artery disease supported by a left ventricular assist device.

In October 2020, the department proposed bringing the chest pain center forward into the emergency department, establishing a dedicated consultation room with 24-hour shifts. It continually optimizes the chest pain pathway and maintains an efficient treatment network, reporting a successful emergency-treatment rate above 98% within this pathway.

The department has established six subspecialties with mature staffing structures and techniques: 1. Coronary heart disease and coronary intervention: It has a national chest pain center and coronary intervention training base. Techniques include IVUS, OCT, rotational atherectomy, excimer laser, intravascular lithotripsy balloons, treatment of complex coronary lesions supported by ECMO or left ventricular assist devices, and retrograde CTO intervention. Annual procedure volume is leading. Accreditation among the first national chest pain centers of excellence in 2026 reflects substantial regional support work. 2. Arrhythmias, pacing and electrophysiology: It is a national atrial fibrillation center and arrhythmia intervention training base, routinely providing cryoballoon ablation, leadless pacing, CCM and pulsed-field ablation, with procedure volume among the province's highest. It has international training instructors and has performed numerous first-in-Dongguan procedures. 3. Heart failure: As a nationally accredited heart failure center and lead institution of the Dongguan Heart Failure Center Alliance, it has established whole-course chronic disease management. It is developing a regional cardiomyopathy center, offers device therapy and tiered care, and plans research on heart failure mechanisms and early warning. 4. Structural heart disease: It has a national training base for interventional diagnosis and treatment of congenital cardiovascular disease and is developing a cardiac valve intervention center. TAVR, TEER and closure procedures for various congenital cardiovascular defects are established techniques. Procedure volume is rising rapidly, and the team helps regional hospitals perform difficult interventions. 5. Hypertension: It is a nationally accredited hypertension control center and has received the Quality Control Star award for two consecutive years. It routinely performs renal denervation (RDN), working with multiple specialties and the medical alliance on screening for secondary hypertension and digitally supported primary care management. 6. Cardiac critical care: Drawing on the first group of national chest pain centers of excellence and its cardiac valve intervention center development program, it routinely uses ECMO, IABP and left ventricular assist devices to support high-risk PCI and performs emergency TAVR. It is building a coordinated regional rescue network and promoting early rehabilitation in critical illness.

The cardiovascular nursing team is a national cardiovascular nursing and technical training base and a Guangdong chest pain specialist nurse training base. Its highly skilled team provides critical care nursing, early rehabilitation and whole-course chronic disease management, reaching 50 medical institutions throughout the city.

3. Specialized diagnostic and therapeutic techniques 1. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR): The department performed Dongguan's first procedure in 2018 and had completed 90 cases by the end of 2025. It can independently manage complex anatomy, including bicuspid valves, severe calcification, horizontal hearts and severe aortic regurgitation. As the first center in Dongguan to provide this routinely, it filled a regional gap in transcatheter aortic valve intervention. Emergency TAVR marks a nationally advanced level of acute and critical care. 2. Transcatheter mitral edge-to-edge repair (TEER): By 2025, the department had performed 66 procedures and could manage various complex anatomical cases. Results are marked in patients with heart failure and severe mitral regurgitation, with short hospital stays, substantially improved quality of life and fewer recurrent heart failure episodes. 3. ECMO-supported high-risk PCI: The department began pioneering this approach in 2020 and had performed 72 procedures by the end of 2025, with a reported success rate of 92% in this series. Cases include left main disease with cardiogenic shock, acute myocardial infarction with shock or malignant arrhythmia, and CTO with heart failure. As Dongguan's first independently operating provider, it has established a 24-hour rapid response team and standardized full-process protocols. This technique is an important foundation of its status among the first national chest pain centers of excellence. 4. Cardiac contractility modulation device implantation (CCM): CCM is a device-based treatment for chronic heart failure, particularly with narrow QRS complexes and reduced ejection fraction. It delivers non-excitatory electrical signals during the absolute refractory period to enhance myocardial contractility without increasing oxygen consumption. By the end of 2025, the department had completed 24 procedures. Patients showed varying increases in left ventricular ejection fraction and a substantial decline in heart failure readmissions. 5. Interventional closure of very large atrial septal defects: Defects at least 30 mm in diameter traditionally often require open-heart surgery. Through multidisciplinary collaboration and extensive interventional experience, the department has established individualized closure strategies and contingency plans for complications. Several patients from other provinces whose complex large defects had been judged elsewhere to require open surgery were successfully treated with interventional closure following precise measurement and device selection, allowing rapid recovery without thoracotomy. The team's expertise provides important support for complex congenital heart interventions in surrounding areas. 6. Leadless pacemaker implantation: Leadless pacemakers such as Micra do not require a pocket or electrode leads. The department describes their advantages as less invasive treatment, fewer complications and unrestricted patient activity. By the end of 2025, the department had performed 110 implantations, leading the city in both volume and quality. The department describes the technique as having broad applicability among older patients, those with abnormal vascular access, those at high risk of pacemaker pocket infection, and those seeking high quality of life. For this series, the department reports a 100% procedural success rate and average postoperative hospitalization of only 1–3 days, marking a new era of minimally invasive, pocket-free pacing.