Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

After more than 40 years of development, the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine has now become a key discipline integrating medical care, scientific research, and teaching. The department has 4 chief physicians, 3 deputy chief physicians, 4 staff members with doctoral degrees, 10 with master's degrees, 1 master's supervisor at Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 3 part-time (associate) professors, 1 Zhejiang Provincial Medical Rising Star, 1 Hangzhou 131 Young and Middle-aged Talent, 1 National Outstanding TCM Clinical Talent, and 1 Young Famous TCM Physician in Hangzhou. The department has successively served as a teaching base for Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, the School of Medicine of Hangzhou Normal University, etc., and has participated in training a large number of clinical doctors. It has a strong level of theoretical, clinical, and teaching expertise.

The department is a Hangzhou Medical Key Discipline (second tier), a participating department of a Hangzhou Medical Peak Discipline, a National Standardized Training Base for TCM Residents, and also the responsible department of the affiliated unit of the Hangzhou TCM Pulmonary Disease Professional Quality Control Center; the lead unit of the Hangzhou Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Pulmonary Disease Specialty Alliance; a provincial alliance unit of the National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases; a National Respiratory Medical Quality Control and Management Sentinel Hospital; a member unit of the Zhejiang Province TCM Advantage Specialty (Pulmonary Disease) Alliance; the chairing unit of the Respiratory Specialized Disease Committee of the Hangzhou Society of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine; and a participating department in the Zhejiang Province TCM Innovation Team for Geriatric Cardiopulmonary Diseases. The department's research focuses on the integrated prevention and treatment with TCM and Western medicine of chronic airway inflammatory diseases (such as bronchiectasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and pulmonary infectious diseases (such as nontuberculous mycobacteria and fungi). At present, the department is responsible for 1 National Natural Science Foundation of China project, 2 Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation projects, and more than 20 department- or bureau-level projects. It has successively won multiple awards, including the Science and Technology Award of the China Association of Chinese Medicine, the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, the Zhejiang Provincial TCM Science and Technology Award, and the Hangzhou Science and Technology Progress Award.

The department has advanced and comprehensive equipment, including Philips and Siemens invasive ventilators, noninvasive ventilators and other noninvasive ventilators, various noninvasive ventilators, high-flow oxygen humidification therapy devices, pulmonary function testers manufactured by Germany's Jaeger and Kangxun companies, imported exhaled nitric oxide analyzers, exhaled carbon monoxide analyzers, simple and multichannel sleep monitors, Olympus electronic bronchoscopes, bedside bronchoscopes, endobronchial ultrasound bronchoscopes, rigid bronchoscopes, medical electronic thoracoscopes, German ERBE cryotherapy devices, German ERBE laser and argon gas knife treatment devices, etc.; it also has multiple TCM treatment devices.

The department's main technical features include: 1. Integrated TCM and Western medicine treatment for mucus plugs in bronchiectasis, and integrated TCM and Western medicine treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 2. Diagnosis and treatment of complex pulmonary infections, including integrated TCM and Western medicine treatment of nontuberculous mycobacteria, fungi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, etc. 3. A national-level smoking cessation clinic, where integrated TCM and Western medicine methods greatly improve the success rate of smoking cessation 4. Multidisciplinary joint diagnosis and treatment for subspecialties such as pulmonary embolism, interstitial lung disease, and pulmonary malignant tumors, with a high level of diagnostic and treatment expertise 5. Magnetic-navigation guidance, endobronchial-ultrasound-guided biopsy, bronchoscopic tracheal and lung tissue biopsy and mediastinal lymph-node needle aspiration biopsy, rapid on-site evaluation and liquid-based cytology after endoscopic sampling (ROSE technology), and B-ultrasound- or CT-guided percutaneous lung needle biopsy greatly improve the diagnostic success rate for difficult pulmonary diseases and pulmonary nodules in pulmonary or mediastinal diseases 6. Comprehensive application of multiple interventional techniques under bronchoscopy to treat tumors and benign and malignant airway stenosis and other diseases, including bronchoscopic bronchial lesion resection, bronchoscopic cryotherapy of bronchial lesions, bronchoscopic tracheobronchial stent placement, bronchial balloon dilation, bronchoscopic foreign-body removal, etc. 7. Local drug instillation under bronchoscopy for related diseases, such as pulmonary aspergilloma, lung abscess, and local infectious lesions caused by bronchiectasis 8. Noninvasive ventilator-assisted ventilation for acute and chronic respiratory failure, heart failure, and severe pneumonia has significantly increased the success rate of patient treatment and reduced the rate of endotracheal intubation 9. The clinical application of medical thoracoscopy has increased the diagnostic success rate for difficult pleural effusions 10. Diagnosis and treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders; the department has simple and multichannel sleep-monitoring equipment and manages patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome 11. Prevention and treatment of chronic respiratory diseases with TCM and Chinese herbal medicine; characteristic TCM treatments are provided, such as “winter disease treated in summer,” “Chinese herbal fumigation,” and “acupoint application,” and comprehensive treatment is carried out for chronic cough, bronchiectasis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with significant efficacy.