Neurosurgery

The Department of Neurosurgery of Peking University Third Hospital is a discipline included in the National Clinical Key Specialty Development Project; a national standardized residency training base for Surgery (Neurosurgery track); a Beijing standardized residency training base for Surgery (Neurosurgery track), one of the first five in Beijing; and an institution honored under the Peking University Clinical Scientist Program and with the highest award in neurosurgery, the Wang Zhongcheng Medical Achievement Award.

The Department of Neurosurgery of Peking University Third Hospital was founded in 1979 by Professor Cai Zhentong, a pioneer of microsurgical neurosurgery in China and editor-in-chief of China’s first book, Microsurgical Neurosurgery. It was one of the earliest institutions in China to perform microsurgical neurosurgical procedures. Through the efforts of several generations, the Department of Neurosurgery of Peking University Third Hospital developed rapidly. In 2018, Professor Yang Jun, a nationally renowned neurosurgical expert and a student of Academician Wang Zhongcheng, became the academic leader. With innovative planning and the support of university and hospital leaders, Professor Yang Jun was selected as a Peking University Clinical Scientist and received the highest neurosurgical award, the Wang Zhongcheng Medical Achievement Award; the department was designated by Peking University as a Key Development Discipline and has continued to receive key support; it received support from the National Clinical Key Specialty Construction Project; and, guided by the new goal of innovation and development of the Beijing Medical Association, it established the nation’s first Intelligent Neurosurgical Technology Group and became a first-class discipline leading innovation and development in neurosurgery at Peking University and throughout China. In 2018, it led the establishment of the Department of Neurosurgery of the Peking University Health Science Center and served as the first host institution. In 2019, it established the Peking University Health Science Center Research Center for Precision Neurosurgery and Tumors; in the same year, it was approved as a Beijing standardized residency training base for Surgery (Neurosurgery track), one of the first five in Beijing; in 2020, it was approved as a national standardized residency training base for Surgery (Neurosurgery track); and in 2022, the department received the National Clinical Key Specialty Development Project. From 2018 to the present, it has successively undertaken major strategic development programs, including the National Natural Science Foundation, the National Brain Initiative, the Beijing Brain Initiative, the Beijing High-Precision-Advanced Discipline Development Program, and the Peking University Clinical Scientist Program. Under the leadership of Professor Yang Jun, the Department of Neurosurgery of Peking University Third Hospital is entering a period of comprehensive and rapid development.

At present, the department has a strong team of academic leaders with distinctive advantages and a complete talent structure. It is an authorized doctoral and master’s degree-granting site in Surgery (Neurosurgery) of Peking University, and has a postdoctoral research station. There are 5 doctoral supervisors, including 3 postdoctoral supervisors, and 10 master’s supervisors. The department has a rational talent structure and a solid foundation and potential for sustainable development. Its 4 management units—the physician group, nursing group, medical technology group, and laboratory—divide responsibilities, cooperate closely, and implement systematic, refined, and standardized management. The main campus has 102 beds actually in operation. It develops in coordination with the Cerebrovascular Center and related departments, and performs approximately 2,800 neurosurgical operations annually. In addition, 150 beds across the Chongli, Yanqing, Haidian, Yan’an, and Qinhuangdao campuses operate in coordinated group development. The Department of Neurosurgery has established studios in more than 30 hospitals nationwide, providing remote consultations, medical referrals, and work guidance, thereby serving the entire country.

The department has first-class advanced equipment, particularly for whole-process perioperative management involving informatization and precision minimally invasive care, including cutting-edge technologies such as multimodal digital imaging, intelligent diagnosis, and front-loaded pathology. Leveraging the strengths of the Xueyuan Road Innovation Alliance, comprising Peking University, Tsinghua University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other leading domestic research institutions, it promotes medicine–engineering integration and has achieved outstanding innovative results. It currently possesses advanced Zeiss and Leica microscopes from China and abroad; the Huake Precision Neurosurgery 3D structured-light surgical robot; an intelligent platform for minimally invasive surgical treatment; the most advanced Brainlab neuronavigation system; a surgical power system; neuroendoscopes; stereotactic instruments; mobile C-arms; and other surgical equipment. It also has intracranial pressure monitors, ventilators dedicated to neurosurgery, a neurophysiological monitoring system, cerebral oxygen monitors, intraoperative ultrasound, a three-dimensional reconstructed-image post-processing system, and other auxiliary equipment. The performance and advancement of its equipment are at the domestic forefront.

At present, the Department of Neurosurgery has developed 3 signature technologies and 5 major professional groups. The 3 signature technologies are intelligent diagnosis and treatment of craniocerebral tumors and skull-base diseases; cervical–vertebral artery surgery; and spinal cord and spinal surgery. The 5 major professional groups, comprising 10 subspecialties, are craniocerebral tumors, skull-base diseases, cerebrovascular disease, spinal cord and spine, craniocerebral trauma, neurocritical care, functional neurosurgery, neurointervention, neuroendoscopy, and neuromodulation.

The Brain Tumor and Skull-Base Group is a nationally leading discipline. In collaboration with the hospital’s national clinical key specialty in ophthalmology and related specialties including otolaryngology and stomatology, it provides diagnosis and treatment for difficult and complex craniocerebral tumors and skull-base diseases referred from throughout China. It has undertaken many innovative and pioneering projects characterized by intelligent neurosurgical technology and is at the domestic leading level in both volume and quality. The group performs surgery for difficult, complex, and recurrent craniocerebral and skull-base tumors, including resection of cranio-orbital and cranio-cervical communicating tumors, brainstem tumors, petroclival-region tumors, cavernous-sinus tumors, and tumors in eloquent areas, with an annual surgical volume of approximately 600 operations. It has won first prize in the Beijing Medical Association’s Capital Medical Innovation and Transformation Competition and second prize in the Seventh Beijing Medical Science and Technology Award; it has received 11 other provincial- and ministerial-level science and technology awards; it leads 6 ongoing National Natural Science Foundation projects and has led or participated in more than 50 projects at various levels; it has published more than 60 SCI-indexed papers and more than 160 papers indexed in core journals; it has participated in compiling 11 guidelines; it has published nearly 20 monographs; and over the past 3 years it has supervised 2 postdoctoral fellows to completion and 9 doctoral students to graduation. Each year, it is invited to participate in more than 400 major consultations on difficult and critically ill cases among tertiary hospitals.

The Cerebrovascular Group is a nationally leading discipline in neurointervention and the surgical treatment of carotid artery stenosis, including carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Its work comprehensively covers hemorrhagic cerebrovascular diseases, such as aneurysms and cerebrospinal vascular malformations, and ischemic cerebrovascular diseases, such as carotid artery stenosis, moyamoya disease, and carotid body tumors. It performs open, endovascular, and hybrid surgery for cerebrovascular diseases comprehensively. It has undertaken extensive innovative work: cross-midline carotid–subclavian bypass for common carotid artery occlusion was the first such case in China; simultaneous carotid endarterectomy and stent removal with prosthetic vascular grafting for in-stent restenosis of the carotid artery after a gunshot wound; simultaneous carotid endarterectomy combined with off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting for severe carotid stenosis combined with severe coronary stenosis; and resection of giant carotid body tumors invading the skull base and protruding into the pharyngeal cavity are all at the domestic leading level. Together with other related departments, it has established a Cerebrovascular Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center. The National Health Commission Stroke Prevention and Treatment Committee awarded it the Five-Star Advanced Stroke Center designation, one of only 2 in Beijing. It has ranked first nationwide in CEA operations among Advanced Stroke Centers for 6 consecutive years, with approximately 1,300 neurosurgical operations annually.

The Spinal Cord and Spine Group is a traditional area of strength of the Department of Neurosurgery of Peking University Third Hospital. It is the chair institution of the Spinal Cord and Spine Group of the Chinese Medical Association and one of the national training bases for spinal cord and spine surgery of the Chinese Medical Association Neurosurgery Society. Its work includes spinal cord tumor resection, involving intramedullary, extramedullary intradural, and extradural locations and tumors such as astrocytomas, ependymomas, hemangioblastomas, schwannomas, meningiomas, teratomas, dermoid cysts, epidermoid cysts, enterogenous cysts, dural spinal cysts, sacral canal cysts, and tumor-like lesions; paravertebral tumor resection; detethering of the spinal cord; decompression for Chiari malformation; and repair of myelomeningocele. It was among the first in China to perform hemilaminectomy, laminoplasty with replacement of the lamina, minimally invasive spinal cord tumor resection assisted by a microchannel, and neuroendoscope-assisted spinal cord tumor resection. It performs approximately 500 operations annually and is at the domestic leading level.

The Functional Neurosurgery Group performs peripheral-branch destruction and radiofrequency ablation for trigeminal neuralgia; balloon compression of the trigeminal ganglion; microvascular decompression of the trigeminal nerve; trigeminal nerve root combing; partial transection of the sensory root of the trigeminal nerve; dorsal rhizotomy for chronic pain in the trunk and limbs; and implantation of electrical stimulation devices. The group has 2 world-leading neurosurgical robots and was the first in China to perform robot-guided precision balloon compression of the trigeminal ganglion. It routinely performs surgical treatment for movement disorders, including deep brain electrode implantation for Parkinson’s disease, microvascular decompression for hemifacial spasm, and partial posterior rhizotomy for limb dystonia. It performs approximately 200 operations annually for functional and minimally invasive neurosurgical diseases.

The Craniocerebral Trauma and Neurocritical Care Group The Craniocerebral Trauma and Neurocritical Care Group has long undertaken national emergency medical support for critical care and has been an important team of the National Medical Center in major critical-care treatment and national medical support, including the Wenchuan earthquake, Yushu earthquake, 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and Wuhan epidemic response. The group comprehensively performs emergency surgery and perioperative intensive treatment for various neurocritical conditions, including brainstem hemorrhage, epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma, cerebral contusion and laceration, and intracerebral hemorrhage. It also provides meticulous management of secondary hydrocephalus and intracranial infection, multidisciplinary repair of complex skull fractures and skull defects, and electrode implantation with electrical stimulation and functional replacement surgery for prolonged disorders of consciousness, with an annual volume of approximately 200 operations.

In recent years, scientific research in the Department of Neurosurgery of Peking University Third Hospital has developed rapidly. Relying on the platform of the Peking University Health Science Center Research Center for Precision Neurosurgery and Tumors, with Peking University Third Hospital as the supporting institution of the Peking University neurosurgery base, drawing on the advantages of being the chair institution of the Beijing Medical Association Intelligent Neurosurgery Group and the interdisciplinary strengths of the Xueyuan Road Alliance, and using intelligent neurosurgical technology as its distinctive feature, it has actively promoted innovative precision neurosurgical technologies nationwide, undertaken many innovative and pioneering projects, and achieved abundant results. Over the past 5 years, it has led 10 national-level foundation projects, 2 international cooperation projects, 7 provincial- and ministerial-level projects, and 12 university- and hospital-level projects. It hosted the First (2020) and Second (2021) Beijing Medical Innovation and Innovation and Transformation Conference (Neurosurgery), hosted the 2021 Beijing Annual Neurosurgery Meeting and Beijing Forum on Medical Innovation and Development in Neurosurgery, held the Peking University Medical Lecture by Professor Spetzler, a world master of neurosurgery, and the Third Peking University Brain Research Summit Forum, and hosted a neurosurgery subforum. It has received such distinguished honors as first prize in the Capital Medical Innovation and Transformation Competition, second prize in the Seventh Beijing Medical Science and Technology Award, the 2019 Wang Zhongcheng Neurosurgical Physician Academic Achievement Award, and second prize in the Huaxia Medical Science and Technology Award, earning broad recognition in the neurosurgical academic community. It has led or participated in the preparation of 22 Chinese- and English-language expert consensuses and guidelines. It edited the first domestic monograph on whole-brain DTI and brainstem DTI imaging, was the chief translator of the first domestic monograph on simulated neurosurgery, and has published 237 academic papers, including 91 indexed by SCI and 146 indexed in the core journals of the Chinese Medical Journal series, as well as more than 30 monographs. Professor Yang Jun, the academic leader, serves as director-elect of the Head and Neck Surgery Committee of the Zhongguancun Industrial Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance and chair of the Beijing Medical Association Intelligent Neurosurgery Development and Application Group, and is committed to innovative applications of artificial intelligence in neurosurgery and related disciplines. It has hosted 2 consecutive Beijing Forums on Medical Innovation and Development in Neurosurgery and, for the first time, established a special issue entitled Three-Compartment Model and Intelligent Neurosurgery in the Chinese Journal of Neurosurgery, giving it broad influence in intelligent neurosurgery. Over the past 3 years, it has undertaken more than 10 teaching projects of Beijing Municipality and Peking University. Several members have received the titles of Excellent Specialty Physician Mentor of Peking University, Excellent Teacher of the Peking University Health Science Center, and Excellent Teacher of Peking University Third Hospital. Young teachers in the department made history by receiving second prize in the Beijing Universities Young Teachers’ Teaching Basic Skills Competition and first prizes in the Peking University and Peking University Third Hospital Young Teachers’ Teaching Basic Skills Competitions, among other awards. It admits and trains approximately 50 visiting physicians each year; over the past 5 years, it has trained more than 200 academic backbones from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and all provinces, cities, and autonomous regions of China. Over the past 10 years, it has held 47 national- and Beijing-level continuing education courses, training more than 4,000 neurosurgeons on a person-attendance basis. During the pandemic, it held more than 100 online and in-person academic conferences and training courses, with approximately 2 million attendances by neurosurgeons nationwide.

Over the past 3 years, the department has been invited to appear on programs including CCTV’s Workplace Health, Beijing Television’s Health Preservation Hall, People’s Daily Online’s Good Doctors of the People—Health Science Popularization, and Peking University’s Greater Health Science Popularization, with cumulative viewing and listening exceeding 2 million person-times. Through self-media and online platforms such as Neurosurgery Frontier, Neurosurgery Information, and Douyin, it has disseminated more than 200 health lectures and educational programs, with a preliminary estimated audience of more than 1 million person-times. Relying on the platform of the Peking University Health Science Center Research Center for Precision Neurosurgery and Tumors, with Peking University Third Hospital as the supporting institution of the Peking University neurosurgery base, drawing on the advantages of being the chair institution of the Beijing Medical Association Intelligent Neurosurgery Group and the interdisciplinary strengths of the Xueyuan Road Alliance, it has actively promoted innovative precision neurosurgical technologies nationwide and has treated more than 20,000 patients, including patients from Russia, Cuba, Mongolia, Thailand, and Singapore. The advanced achievements of the department’s young physicians who are Communist Party members born in the 1990s have repeatedly been featured in media programs including News Broadcast and Focus Interview.

The Department of Neurosurgery of Peking University Third Hospital and the Peking University Health Science Center Research Center for Precision Neurosurgery and Tumors will continue to uphold integrity and pursue innovation, strive unremittingly, take high-quality hospital development as their goal, use the development of national clinical key disciplines as an opportunity, and work to build a nationally first-class Peking University medical center for precision and intelligent neurosurgery.