Zhejiang Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Center

The Department of Tuberculosis was established in 2000 through the merger with the Hangzhou Institute for Tuberculosis Prevention and Control. In 2009, it was approved as the “National Clinical Base for Infectious Diseases,” the “Designated Institution for Construction of a Clinical Base for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in Infectious Diseases under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine,” the “National Demonstration Hospital for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment,” a “Key Discipline of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in Zhejiang Province,” and a “Key Medical Discipline of Hangzhou City.” In 2011, it was awarded the title of “Zhejiang Provincial Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Center” by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Health. In 2012, it was approved as a “National Clinical Key Specialty (Traditional Chinese Medicine).” In 2014, it opened the “Multidisciplinary Joint Outpatient Clinic for Difficult Pulmonary Diseases and Small Nodules (Tuesday afternoon)” and the “Multidisciplinary Joint Outpatient Clinic for Lymphadenopathy (Tuesday afternoon).” In 2016, the “Zhejiang Provincial Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Quality Control Center” was approved for establishment. After nearly 20 years of development, it has become the Zhejiang Provincial Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Center, with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine treatment of tuberculosis as its main focus and medical care, scientific research, and teaching as an integrated whole. The Center currently has an independent inpatient building, outpatient department, laboratory, ultrasound diagnostic department, radiology department, pharmacy, bronchoscopy room, pulmonary function room, and all other facilities for tuberculosis treatment and related auxiliary departments. Its major equipment includes multidetector spiral CT, electronic bronchoscopes, electronic thoracoscopes, ventilators, a central monitoring system, pulmonary function analyzers, a tongue, facial complexion, pulse, and constitution identification system, an MGIT960 Mycobacterium tuberculosis liquid culture instrument, a real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR analyzer, a GENE-XPERT rapid tuberculosis diagnostic instrument, a Hain rapid tuberculosis diagnostic instrument, a CapitalBio tuberculosis molecular chip instrument, fluorescence microscopes, and other equipment.

The Center is responsible for providing technical guidance on tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment throughout the province and for assisting designated primary-level hospitals with professional guidance. Each year, it assists hospitals at all levels throughout the province with approximately 1,000 consultations. The number of patients from other provinces who come because of its reputation has increased year by year, and the Center enjoys a high reputation nationwide. Relying on its status as the Provincial Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Center, our hospital is also one of the 93 designated tuberculosis hospitals in Zhejiang Province and one of the 13 hospitals in Zhejiang Province for the diagnosis and treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. It has developed distinctive technical strengths in tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment: (1) The diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacterial disease are at an advanced domestic level and a leading level within the province. It is the “National Demonstration Hospital for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment” and diagnoses and treats more than 100 cases of multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis each year; (2) the tuberculosis-specialty bronchoscopy room has strong technical capabilities and is equipped with 4 advanced electronic bronchoscopy systems, 2 medical thoracoscopy systems, 3 cryotherapy units, 1 argon plasma coagulation treatment station, 1 holmium laser treatment station, and 1 rigid bronchoscopy system, including 20 electronic bronchoscopes in total, of which 1 is a fluorescence bronchoscope and 3 are endobronchial ultrasound bronchoscopes. Approximately 4,000 bronchoscopic examinations and treatments of various kinds are performed each year, including approximately 1,500 bronchoscopic interventional diagnostic procedures and techniques, including bronchoscopic drug injection, bronchoscopic balloon dilatation, bronchoscopic cryotherapy, bronchoscopic argon plasma coagulation and laser treatment, endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration of lymph nodes (EBUS-TBNA), endobronchial ultrasound-guided guide-sheath transbronchial lung biopsy (EBUS-GS-TBLB), painless bronchoscopy, and medical thoracoscopy biopsy; (3) the multidisciplinary joint outpatient clinic led by the Zhejiang Provincial Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Center organizes experts from tuberculosis internal medicine, tuberculosis surgery, radiology, respiratory medicine, oncology and hematology, ultrasound diagnosis and treatment, pathology, and other specialties to conduct multidisciplinary consultations for difficult pulmonary diseases and difficult cervical lymph node diseases. It is highly popular with patients and conducts consultations for more than 400 difficult cases of various types each year; (4) the tuberculosis-specialty laboratory has advanced equipment, including an MGIT960 Mycobacterium tuberculosis liquid culture instrument, a real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR analyzer, a U.S. Hotpoint high-speed centrifuge, a GENE-XPERT rapid tuberculosis diagnostic instrument, a Hain rapid tuberculosis diagnostic instrument, a CapitalBio tuberculosis molecular chip instrument, and fluorescence microscopes. It performs rapid Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture and first- and second-line drug-susceptibility testing and has advanced laboratory technologies for detecting tuberculosis drug-resistance genes and typing nontuberculous mycobacteria. The overall technical level of the tuberculosis-specialty laboratory is advanced domestically and leading within the province; (5) the tuberculosis ICU was one of the earliest tuberculosis intensive care units established in Zhejiang Province. Its critical-care monitoring and treatment technologies have saved the lives of a large number of critically ill tuberculosis patients and provide strong support for the treatment of tuberculosis in internal medicine and surgery; (6) tuberculosis surgery uses thoracoscopy, mediastinoscopy, DSA, and various other new surgical techniques to perform distinctive operations for tuberculous empyema, bronchopleural fistula, tuberculous cavities, tuberculomas, massive hemoptysis, cervical lymph node tuberculosis, intestinal tuberculosis, and other conditions. Bone and joint tuberculosis is managed jointly with the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology of our hospital. Relying on the hospital’s overall strengths, the overall level of tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment is among the advanced level in China.

Scope of diagnosis and treatment: all types of tuberculosis, including pulmonary tuberculosis (including multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis), bronchial tuberculosis, tuberculous lymphadenitis, tuberculous meningitis, tuberculous pleuritis, tuberculous peritonitis, intestinal tuberculosis, renal tuberculosis, pelvic tuberculosis, bone and joint tuberculosis, and other related conditions, such as comorbidities and complications including drug-induced hepatitis and cytopenias that occur during tuberculosis treatment. The Tuberculosis Intensive Care Unit admits patients with severe tuberculosis. Tuberculosis surgery admits patients requiring surgical treatment for tuberculous empyema, bronchopleural fistula, tuberculous cavities, tuberculomas, massive hemoptysis, cervical lymph node tuberculosis, bone tuberculosis, intestinal tuberculosis, and other conditions.

The Center’s principal research directions are the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine treatment of tuberculosis and research into its immune mechanisms. Its main focuses are Fei Lao (pulmonary consumptive disease; multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis), Xie Tong (hypochondriac pain; drug-induced hepatitis), Luo Li (scrofula; tuberculous lymphadenitis), and Xuan Yin (suspended fluid retention; tuberculous pleuritis), while also covering such critical and severe traditional Chinese medicine conditions as Gu Lao (bone consumptive disease; bone tuberculosis), hemoptysis (pulmonary tuberculosis complicated by hemoptysis), Nao Lao (brain consumptive disease; tuberculous meningitis), and jaundice (drug-induced hepatitis), with exploration from both clinical and scientific research perspectives. It has established distinctive therapies, including the “qi-supplementing and yin-nourishing method” for Fei Lao, the “supporting earth and restraining wood method” for Xie Tong, and “stage-based treatment and combined internal and external treatment” for Luo Li. It has developed hospital-prepared formulations including Yifei Mixture, Xiaoluo No. 1, Xiaoluo No. 2, Shugan Coordinated Formula, and Jianpi Yiqi Formula, which are widely used clinically and have achieved significant results in improving clinical symptoms and increasing the sputum bacillary conversion rate in drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis, the rate of normalization of liver function in drug-induced hepatitis, the cure rate of tuberculous lymphadenitis, and other outcomes. Over the past 5 years, 164 tuberculosis-related projects at various levels have been approved, including 4 National Natural Science Foundation projects and 7 Provincial Natural Science Foundation projects. It has published 181 tuberculosis-related SCI papers and 115 papers in domestic core journals; its staff have served as chief editors of 9 monographs and contributed to 15 other books. Forty-five utility model patents have been filed. The Center has participated in research projects under the national 13th Five-Year Plan major special programs, including “Clinical Research on Optimized Regimens for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis,” “A Clinical Multicenter Study of Rapid Diagnostic Technologies for Pulmonary Tuberculosis,” “Construction of Clinical Scientific Research Bases and Technical Platforms for the Prevention and Treatment of Major Infectious Diseases with Traditional Chinese Medicine,” and “Post-Marketing Clinical Safety Monitoring of Kudiezi Injection.” It participated in writing the chapter on intensive care and treatment of critically ill tuberculosis patients in the book Global TB Control, edited by Harvard University.

Personnel structure of the Zhejiang Provincial Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Center: (1) There are 31 tuberculosis internal medicine doctors, including 7 chief physicians, 13 associate chief physicians, 8 attending physicians, 3 physicians, and 1 secretary of the Quality Control Center; there are 52 nursing staff. (2) There are 8 tuberculosis ICU physicians, including 1 chief physician, 6 associate chief physicians, and 1 attending physician; there are 36 nursing staff. (3) There are 13 laboratory personnel, including 5 supervisory laboratory technologists, 2 attending physicians, and 6 laboratory technologists. The Center has 5 master’s supervisors, 5 doctoral degree holders, and 13 master’s degree holders. The Hangzhou municipal government has successively appointed Professor Duanmu Hongjin of the Beijing Institute of Tuberculosis, Professor Zhang Ying of Johns Hopkins University in the United States, and Professor Zhang Wenhong of Shanghai Huashan Hospital to guide the clinical and scientific research development of the specialty.

Telephone numbers: Outpatient Service Desk 0571-56109835; Second-floor Nurses’ Station 0571-56109820; Second-floor Doctors’ Office 0571-56109821; Third-floor Nurses’ Station 0571-56109830; Third-floor Doctors’ Office 0571-56109831; Fourth Floor (Surgery) 0571-56109840; Fourth Floor (Surgery) 0571-56109841; Fifth-floor Nurses’ Station 0571-56109850; Fifth-floor Doctors’ Office 0571-56109851; Laboratory 0571-56109829 Tuberculosis outpatient schedule: Cai Qingshan: Monday (Fengqi), Tuesday morning (Fengqi Campus Famous Physicians’ Clinic), Wednesday (Yisheng); Chen Yuanyuan: Tuesday (Fengqi), Sunday (Yisheng); Bao Zhijian: Wednesday (Fengqi), Friday (Yisheng); Li Baiying: Monday (Yisheng), Thursday (Fengqi); Zhu Min: Tuesday (Fengqi), Friday (Yisheng); Wu Limin: Friday (Fengqi); Cui Yanfei: Monday (Fengqi), Saturday (Yisheng); Wei Qiang: Tuesday (Yisheng), Saturday (Fengqi); Yin Liangsheng: Sunday (Fengqi); Sheng Yunfeng: Thursday (Yisheng) Multidisciplinary Joint Outpatient Clinic for Pulmonary Diseases (Fengqi): Tuesday afternoon; Multidisciplinary Joint Outpatient Clinic for Cervical Lymph Node Diseases (Fengqi): Tuesday afternoon.