Traditional Chinese Medicine

In October 1958, at the very beginning of the establishment of the Third Hospital of Peking University, the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture was set up. Director Lü Bohua was its first head. Thereafter, through the optimized management of directors Mao Xiaosan, Li Hongxiang, Lu Guoxun and Nie Youzhi and of the current director Li Dong, the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) gradually grew and expanded, from 6 physicians at its founding to the current 34. The Department of TCM now consists of two parts, the main campus and the Airport Campus; in October 2019 a TCM ward was established at the Airport Campus, with 15 beds. The department currently has 5 chief physicians, 4 associate chief physicians, 13 attending physicians and 12 resident physicians. Two members hold postdoctoral degrees, 17 hold doctoral degrees and 10 hold master's degrees. The daily outpatient volume is 700–760 patient visits, and the annual outpatient volume exceeds 270,000 patient visits. In 2011 it was approved as a demonstration Department of TCM for general hospitals in the Beijing area; in 2015 it became a construction unit for the national demonstration Department of TCM of general hospitals.

Clinical development and planning

TCM group: by strengthening the development of characteristic TCM specialty diseases, the role of TCM in advantageous diseases and in key stages is highlighted. After more than sixty years of development, specialty disease clinics have been established for TCM intervention in assisted reproduction, infertility, menstrual disorders, thyroid diseases, breast diseases, chronic gastritis, rheumatoid arthritis, tumors, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, TCM emotional management, TCM cosmetology and chronic disease management.

Acupuncture group: the acupuncture group is a diagnostic and treatment team combining acupuncture meridian theory with modern photoelectric physical diagnostic and treatment technology. After decades of development, it has adopted comprehensive diagnostic and treatment measures for cervical spondylosis, lumbar spondylosis, joint pain, sequelae of stroke, facial paralysis, trigeminal neuralgia, headache, hiccups, tinnitus, obesity, enuresis and others, achieving good therapeutic results, and has established specialty disease clinics.

Scientific research achievements

In 2010, the Capital Health Development Research Fund project “A randomized controlled clinical trial of TCM and acupuncture intervention in assisted reproductive technology to improve the pregnancy rate”, led by Director Li Dong, was the first provincial- and ministerial-level project of the Department of TCM; in the same year Chief Physician Shi Chenghe published the Department's first SCI paper. In recent years, breakthroughs in both quantity and quality have been achieved in the number and quality of projects and papers. From 2015 to early 2020, the Department of TCM led 4 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 1 project of the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, 1 Capital Clinical Characteristic Special Fund project, 1 Capital Health Development Research Fund project, 1 Science and Technology Enhancement Project of the Beijing Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1 Seed Fund for Joint Research in Medicine and Information Science of Peking University and 1 fund of the Capital Institute for Social and Economic Development. It has published more than 60 statistical source papers and more than 10 SCI papers. In 2013 the Beijing Institute of Reproductive Medicine of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine was established, the first municipal-level research platform in whose construction the Department of TCM participated. One member serves as deputy director of the Beijing Institute of Reproductive Medicine of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine and deputy director of the Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine of the Peking University Health Science Center; 3 members hold 7 positions as vice chairmen in national and Beijing municipal academic societies; 3 members hold 8 positions as standing committee members and council members; 11 members hold more than 30 positions as committee members and council members; scientific research has advanced by leaps and bounds.

Teaching and health education

In teaching, the Department of TCM undertakes the TCM theory lectures, clinical mentoring, standardized residency training and training of trainees from other institutions for the nursing program and the eight-year clinical medicine program of the Peking University Health Science Center. Since 2007 it has deepened the reform of TCM teaching for eight-year medical students, formulated a teaching syllabus and established a multi-dimensional TCM teaching model and a multi-station examination model, strengthening medical students' understanding of and interest in TCM theory and promoting the cultivation of integrated Chinese-Western medicine talents. Several members have been awarded the title of excellent teacher by the Peking University Health Science Center and the Third Hospital of Peking University.

At the same time, the Department of TCM has strong external teaching capacity and has trained more than 800 person-times of visiting scholars and international students from the United States, Germany, Japan, Spain, Brazil and other countries. Since 1997 it has established cooperation with the Huangdi Acupuncture Association of Seville, Spain, and holds exchange activities regularly.

Health education is also one of the key tasks of the Department of TCM and has played an important role in raising citizens' awareness of TCM health. By entering campuses and communities, it holds many health consultation and free clinic activities every year; from 2010 to 2019, more than 110 person-times went to the grassroots to provide TCM diagnostic and treatment services, voluntarily treating more than 7,000 patient visits. At the same time, relying on the two projects “Capital TCM Preventive Treatment of Disease Health Promotion Project” and “Beijing TCM Health Village/Community Construction”, it conducts health education online and offline, benefiting more than 12,000 people.

Development of specialty groups

1. TCM intervention in assisted reproductive technology: the assisted reproductive technology of our hospital is in a leading position in China. Through years of clinical and research observation, it has been found that supplementing with Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture before and after assisted reproduction can improve the success rate, and a unique TCM diagnostic and treatment system has been formed. Centered on Director Li Dong, a clinical and research innovation team for TCM-assisted reproduction has been established and has achieved certain results, obtained a number of projects and published several papers. On this basis, the Beijing Institute of Reproductive Medicine of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine was established in April 2015 to carry out the diagnosis, treatment and research of difficult reproductive endocrine diseases with integrated Chinese and Western medicine.

2. Chronic atrophic gastritis: chronic atrophic gastritis is a common and frequently occurring disease, mostly triggered by irregular diet and emotional disorders. Through TCM syndrome differentiation, herbal treatment can significantly improve patients' symptoms and prognosis. At the same time, relying on the advanced examinations of the Department of Gastroenterology, a national key clinical department of our hospital, the therapeutic effect is evaluated, further raising the diagnostic and treatment level of TCM.

3. TCM herbal treatment of skin diseases: TCM holds that “whatever is inside must manifest outside”; skin diseases are therefore the external manifestation of disorders of qi and blood function of the internal organs or of invasion of the body by pathogenic factors. In treatment we adopt internal treatment, external treatment or combined internal and external treatment, taking flexible measures for different skin diseases and achieving good clinical results.

4. Combined acupuncture and medication for the comprehensive treatment of neck, shoulder, waist and leg pain: relying on the advantages of our hospital's national key disciplines — Orthopedics and Sports Medicine — and targeting neck, shoulder, waist and leg pain that does not require surgery, such as lumbar disc herniation, cervical spondylosis, arthritis, periarthritis of the shoulder, tennis elbow and sports injuries, a dedicated treatment group has been created, forming a treatment center for neck, shoulder, waist and leg pain and developing characteristic treatment.

5. TCM cosmetology: the TCM cosmetology specialty has continued to develop, carrying out herbal facial masks for acne and facial pigmentation and acupoint catgut embedding for obesity, and has developed a new technique that improves the success of assisted reproduction in patients with high obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome, which has been approved as a new technology service of the hospital.

6. TCM emotional management: using the TCM view of the unity of heaven and humanity, essence-qi-spirit and the theories of yin-yang and the five elements, and based on the TCM theories of zang-fu organs and emotions, the transformation of emotions into qi and the ascending, descending, floating and sinking of drugs, combined with contemporary research results in social psychology and humanistic medicine, we examine the patient's social role; at the operational level we integrate the content of narrative medicine, guide patients' behavior and psychology with TCM culture and herbal medicine, and give full play to medical empathy in the treatment process, so as to achieve comprehensive management of the patient's overall state and improve clinical efficacy.

7. Sjögren's syndrome

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease mainly involving the exocrine glands, also known as autoimmune exocrine gland epithelial cell inflammation or autoimmune exocrine disease. Besides dryness of the mouth and eyes, patients may also have systemic symptoms such as fatigue, low-grade fever and joint pain, and it may also cause damage to the lungs and kidneys. Shen Hongbo's team has long been engaged in research on and clinical work with this disease, has rich treatment experience, and has achieved good results through syndrome differentiation and treatment.

8. Chronic disease management clinic

A chronic disease management clinic has been set up for diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and others; in combination with the “Capital TCM Preventive Treatment of Disease Health Promotion Project” and the “Beijing TCM Health Village (Community) Construction Project”, it provides health education, medication and lifestyle guidance for patients with chronic diseases, increases patients' knowledge of TCM prevention and treatment and enhances their ability to manage their own disease.

9. TCM characteristic ward (Capital Airport Campus)

According to the overall development layout of the hospital and in combination with the diagnostic and treatment characteristics of the Department of TCM, the TCM ward focuses on conservative and postoperative rehabilitation treatment of stroke, orthopedic and sports medicine diseases. It uses comprehensive treatment methods such as Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, tuina massage, medicated bath, fumigation, iontophoresis and physiotherapy, highlighting the advantages of external treatment of TCM.

Honors of the department

In 2011 it became a construction unit for the demonstration Department of TCM of general hospitals in the Beijing area; In 2012 Director Li Dong was awarded the title of “the Second Young and Middle-aged Famous TCM Doctor Loved by the Masses of the Capital”; In April 2015 the Beijing Institute of Reproductive Medicine of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine was established; In 2016 it received the title of “National Demonstration Unit for TCM Work in General Hospitals” from the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine; In 2016 it completed the acceptance review of TCM Gynecology, a key specialty of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” of the Beijing Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Talent programs

The third batch of outstanding clinical TCM talents nationwide: Li Dong; Academic successors of the fourth batch of national old TCM experts of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Li Dong and Shi Chenghe; Academic successors of the fifth batch of national old TCM experts of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Wang Chunyong and Li Yunhu; Outstanding talent of the first phase of the “Dawn 60” program for TCM and integrated Chinese-Western medicine in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei: Xin Xiyan.

The Department of TCM is a united and enterprising collective that strives for innovative development, a department with a fine tradition of medical ethics and conduct; adhering to “the healer's benevolent heart”, it does everything possible to provide high-quality services to the vast number of patients.