Cardiology (CCU)

The Department of Cardiovascular Medicine was established in 1979. Through the joint efforts of several generations, including the nationally renowned cardiovascular experts Professors Lin Qi, Ma Caili, Chen Yunzhen, Rao Bangfu and Wu Qingling, it has developed into a National Key Clinical Specialty integrating medical care, teaching and research. The Department of Cardiovascular Medicine is the earliest master's and doctoral degree authorization site in Southwest China, one of the first batch of training bases for coronary heart disease and arrhythmia intervention of the National Health Commission, one of the first batch of standardized training bases for cardiovascular medicine specialists, a Chongqing Municipal Key Medical Discipline, the Chongqing Quality Control Center for Cardiovascular Medicine and Coronary Heart Disease Interventional Diagnosis and Treatment, one of the first batch of municipal chest pain centers, and the electrocardiogram tele-diagnosis base of the Municipal Health Commission; it is home to the “five major centers” (chest pain, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, hypertension target achievement and cardiac rehabilitation) and the “two major demonstration bases” (chest pain and cardiac rehabilitation) in the national cardiovascular disease field; in 2014 it was approved as a National Good Clinical Practice (GCP) base, in 2022 it became a construction unit of the Heart Valve Intervention Center and the Panvascular Disease Management Center, in 2023 it received the designation of one of the first batch of Chongqing Key Chronic Disease (Cardiovascular Disease) Prevention and Treatment Centers, and in 2024 it was approved as the provincial-level leading technical unit for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment of the National Health Commission. The discipline leader, Professor Luo Suxin, is currently an innovation-leading talent of Chongqing (in the medical field) and the academic and technical leader of cardiovascular medicine.

The Department of Cardiovascular Medicine now operates as one hospital with three campuses, including the main campus, the Jinshan Campus, the First Branch (the Hutouyan Campus and the Grand Auditorium Campus) and the Special Needs ICU, with up to 350 beds. There are 308 medical, nursing and technical staff: 78 physicians, 192 nurses and 38 ECG and echocardiography technicians. There are 20 with full senior professional titles and 30 with associate senior titles. There are 7 doctoral supervisors, 28 master's supervisors and 26 residency training supervisors. Forty-seven hold doctoral degrees and 38 hold master's degrees, and 21 have studied abroad for 1–2 years. There are 4 full-time secretaries and 1 chest pain center nurse.

The specialty was the first in Southwest China to carry out various cardiovascular interventional diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, covering interventional subspecialties such as coronary heart disease intervention, arrhythmia intervention (catheter ablation and device implantation), congenital heart disease intervention, pulmonary vascular disease intervention, structural heart disease intervention, and valvular disease and hypertensive heart disease; the annual volume of interventional procedures exceeds 6,000. It was the first in Chongqing to carry out transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), percutaneous transluminal pulmonary angioplasty (PTPA), transcatheter mitral/tricuspid valve edge-to-edge clipping, and complex high-risk PCI under ECMO support, and the first in the region to carry out highly sophisticated interventional procedures such as adrenal venous sampling and adrenal artery embolization and pulmonary artery denervation. Its comprehensive interventional strength ranks among the top in Southwest China. The in-hospital ECG network has been fully implemented and the out-of-hospital remote ECG network platform operates well. It has undertaken a large number of inter-hospital consultations and the diagnosis and treatment of difficult cases in Chongqing, including guidance, training and assessment of cardiac interventional procedures, and has become the center for the diagnosis and treatment of difficult cardiovascular cases in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, leading the development of diagnostic and therapeutic technology for cardiovascular diseases in Southwest China.

The Department of Cardiovascular Medicine has 1 person-time of high-end talent such as an Overseas Outstanding Young Scholar, 2 person-times of provincial and ministerial-level talent such as “Chongqing Academic and Technical Leader” and “Chongqing Talent”, 3 person-times of young talent such as “Chongqing Young and Middle-aged Medical High-end Talent”, and holds 3 person-times of vice-chairmanship of national second-level branch societies.

It has successively undertaken 42 research projects, including sub-projects of the National Key Basic Research and Development Program (973 Program), key support projects of the Joint Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, sub-projects of the National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and general projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, as well as 67 provincial and ministerial-level research projects. It has participated in more than 20 multicenter clinical studies and carried out more than 30 IIT research projects, with total funding of nearly 50 million yuan. It has received 1 science and technology award, and in the past 5 years has published a total of 172 SCI papers, of which 7 have an impact factor >10, with a total impact factor of 740.436, giving it a certain academic influence in Southwest China. Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory of the Main Campus, Coronary Care Unit (CCU), Color Doppler Echocardiography Room, Ambulatory ECG and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Report Analysis Room.