Urology

The Department of Urology of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University was established in the 1950s, and over the past 80 years the department has continued to develop and expand; it is now a key department of the hospital, the institution represented by the Chairperson of the Urology Branch of the Shandong Medical Association, a member institution of the China Bladder Cancer Alliance of the Urology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, a special technical assistance project and core urological technology training base under the “Hua Tuo Project” of the Urological Health Promotion Branch of the China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care, and an Integrated Prostate Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Center and Prostate Biopsy Training Base; it has strong technical capabilities, with a group of expert professors who have solid academic foundations, comprehensive technical skills, and extensive clinical experience, forming a high-caliber professional medical team. The department has 17 personnel holding associate-senior professional titles or higher, 110 beds, a complete departmental setup, and the most advanced urological diagnostic and therapeutic equipment currently available; its hardware and software facilities fully meet the requirements for diagnosing and treating urinary system diseases. The department is equipped with central air conditioning, a central oxygen supply, a central negative-pressure suction system, a central call system, an ECG monitoring system, a computerized management system, and other facilities, fully ensuring the needs of clinical diagnosis and treatment and ward management and laying a solid foundation for distinctive services and scientific management.

The department has established a scientific management system and fostered a favorable research atmosphere, and its scientific research has also yielded fruitful results in recent years. In 2017, it established the Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Higher-Education Institutions under the 13th Five-Year Plan—the Precision Diagnosis and Treatment Laboratory for Urinary System Diseases; in 2019, it established the Shandong University Prostate Disease Research Center. With the support of Qilu Hospital’s extensive advanced research instruments and equipment, basic research such as routine biochemistry, molecular biology, cell culture, and histopathology can be conducted. The range of diseases diagnosed and treated includes congenital malformations of the urinary system, tumors, calculi, trauma, abnormal urination, and diseases of the male reproductive system, among others. The treatment of some difficult diseases also reflects the application of new technologies, such as brachytherapy for prostate cancer, which was performed relatively early in the province and has been recommended in the United States as the preferred alternative to surgery for treating prostate cancer. Its overall technical level is at the forefront of the province.

At present, as minimally invasive surgery has developed and matured, various endoluminal surgical procedures have gradually replaced certain traditional operations and become the “gold standard” procedures for treating common diseases. Because they cause less trauma, offer high safety, and allow rapid postoperative recovery, endoluminal surgical procedures have gradually been accepted by the majority of patients. Under the leadership of the department heads, Professors Xu Zhonghua and Shi Benkang, the Department of Urology has targeted this frontier field, pursued advancement with determination, and actively innovated; in 2000, it began minimally invasive surgical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia as well as basic and clinical research on diseases involving voiding dysfunction; in 2001, our hospital established the first urodynamics laboratory in Shandong Province; in 2002, it pioneered in Shandong the world’s most advanced minimally invasive midurethral sling procedure (TVT) for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence; in 2002, it began laparoscopic surgery and subsequently introduced anatomical laparoscopic surgery for urinary diseases via the transperitoneal approach and second-generation laparoscopic urological surgery via the retroperitoneal approach, including technically demanding urological resection and reconstruction procedures such as anatomical radical nephrectomy, nephron-sparing partial nephrectomy, pyeloplasty, radical cystectomy for bladder cancer, and radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. It also actively introduced other new technologies, successively performing technically demanding procedures such as holmium laser resection of bladder tumors, holmium laser enucleation of the prostate, holmium laser ureteroscopy, laparoscopic tissue incision, tumor resection and lithotripsy, transurethral plasma vaporization resection of the prostate and prostate enucleation, and lithotripsy using flexible and rigid ureteroscopes; in 2004, it began holmium laser enucleation of the prostate; in 2007, it began basic and clinical research on diabetic neurogenic bladder; at present, the types of endoscopes available in the Department of Urology encompass all types of urological endoscopes, including urethroscopes, resectoscopes, flexible and rigid ureteroscopes, percutaneous nephroscopes, and laparoscopes; in 2016, it began basic and clinical research on sacral and tibial nerve modulation, and was the first in China to apply AR technology and 3D-printing technology to sacral nerve modulation; in 2017, it began transurethral vaporization of the prostate and transurethral prostatic dilation using a rod-shaped water balloon, bringing the minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of patients with prostatic enlargement to a new level; the proportion of endoscopic surgery for diseases of the adrenal glands, kidneys, ureters, bladder, prostate, and urethra is as high as approximately 90%, and endoluminal minimally invasive procedures, characterized by less trauma, less pain, and lower cost, have become highly popular with patients.

The Department of Urology of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University has developed into a specialty with distinctive characteristics of its own and an academic style of its own, enjoys a certain reputation in China, and has made outstanding contributions to the development of urology nationally and within Shandong Province. To follow the international trend toward increasingly refined surgical practice and further enhance its ability to provide patients with standardized, specialized, high-quality medical services, the Department of Urology has vigorously developed subspecialty programs since 2011. It currently has subspecialties in adrenal diseases, kidney diseases, urothelial carcinoma, prostate diseases and andrology, and urinary tract calculi, and has achieved some results; its basic and clinical work in urinary tract tumors, prostate diseases and voiding dysfunction, calculi, and andrology is at an advanced level nationally. It is particularly at the national forefront in minimally invasive urology, endourology, and urodynamics. This has established the department’s leading clinical and academic position in the field of urology in Shandong Province.