Spinal Surgery

The Department of Spine Surgery of Renji Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, was formally established in January 2017 and was the first among Shanghai’s tertiary A hospitals to independently establish outpatient and emergency services for spine surgery. It has now developed three specialties and major directions: cervical spine surgery, spinal deformity, and minimally invasive spine surgery. Each subspecialty team is led by one chief physician and two deputy chief physicians. The ward has 48 open beds. The department currently has 19 physicians, including 11 with senior professional titles, 2 doctoral supervisors, and 4 master’s supervisors. Spine Surgery has always upheld the protection of patients’ spinal cord and neurological function as its core理念, emphasized the synchronized development of clinical and basic research, valued the coordinated advancement of individual development and echelon building, and adhered to integrating disciplinary development and talent cultivation with service to the public and research translation. The Cervical Spine Surgery team focuses on the most common cervical degenerative diseases and cervical trauma, while continuously expanding early diagnosis and precision treatment for the upper cervical spine, cervical deformities, and cervical tumors. It performs minimally invasive anterior cervical discectomy, decompression, and fusion (ACDF), cervical disc replacement (ACDR), motion-preserving posterior cervical laminoplasty, laminectomy decompression and fixation fusion, and personalized hybrid procedures. It has accumulated extensive clinical experience, particularly in difficult conditions such as extremely severe cervical spondylosis in very elderly patients, cervical deformities, and recurrent disease requiring revision after cervical surgery. “Technological Innovation and System Optimization in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cervical Spine Injuries and Diseases” received the First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress from the Ministry of Education in 2018. Each year, it regularly holds the national continuing medical education course New Theories and New Techniques in Cervical Spine Surgical Decompression and Reconstruction. Professor Shen Hongxing, the academic leader, serves as president-elect of the Cervical Spine Research Society—Asia Pacific (CSRS-AP) and organized its first annual meeting held offline in China. The Spinal Deformity team focuses on congenital scoliosis, adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, and adult degenerative scoliosis. It is proficient in complex three-column osteotomy correction procedures, including pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) and vertebral column resection (VCR), and was among the earlier centers in China to use neurophysiological monitoring to improve surgical safety. The Minimally Invasive Spine team addresses spinal challenges associated with the increasing youthfulness of disc disease and an aging society. It is proficient in minimally invasive transforaminal endoscopic cervical/lumbar laminotomy decompression and discectomy, and performs nearly 1,000 minimally invasive percutaneous vertebroplasties (PVP) under local anesthesia each year. It actively performs new techniques including unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE) and navigated percutaneous pedicle-screw fixation. These procedures offer significant clinical advantages, including less surgical trauma and faster patient recovery; while achieving good outcomes, the team has accumulated extensive experience in minimally invasive treatment. The department currently performs more than 2,000 operations annually, and its annual volume of disc surgery ranks among the top three in Shanghai according to Shen Kang. The department keeps pace with the era of artificial intelligence ushered in by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In 2018, it was the first in East China to introduce an orthopedic robot and established a Clinical Technology Application Center for Robot-Assisted Spine Surgery. Nearly 1,000 robot-assisted spine surgeries have now been completed. The center was named one of the “Top Ten Teams in Clinical Application” in 2019 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Health Commission for orthopedic surgical robot application centers. It was among the first in China to achieve simplification of complex procedures, enhanced safety of high-difficulty procedures, and minimally invasive performance of routine procedures. Since the department was established, all colleagues have worked with vigor and determination over the past seven years, obtaining 16 National Natural Science Foundation projects and 17 provincial- and ministerial-level projects from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, the Health Commission, and other bodies. Research funding has exceeded RMB 10 million, and more than 100 SCI papers have been published, including in authoritative specialty journals such as Advanced Science, Advanced Materials, Spine, Global Spine Journal, and European Spine Journal. The department has trained a group of young and middle-aged backbone physicians who can “operate in the operating room and work in the laboratory,” and who have successively received talent programs including Shanghai Leading Talent, U35 Outstanding Young Talent, Outstanding Academic Leader, Pujiang Talent, Science and Technology Innovation Star, and the former Health and Family Planning Commission Outstanding Young Talent program. Department Director Professor Shen Hongxing serves as Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Orthopedics Branch, Vice President of the Medical Robotics Special Committee of the Shanghai Medical Doctors Association, Vice Chairman of the Orthopedics Committee of the Medical Robotics Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctors Association, and president-elect of the Cervical Spine Research Society—Asia Pacific (CSRS-AP). The department is also a deputy-chairman and secretary-general unit of the Spine Surgery Committee of the Chinese Section of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et de Traumatologie (SICOT). “The road through the Hsiung-kuan pass is truly like iron, yet now we stride forward and leap from the starting point.” Backed by the orthopedic family established in 1939, the Spine Surgery Department of Renji Hospital is vigorous and high-spirited. All colleagues will remain clinically focused, thoughtful, willing to innovate, and courageous in breaking through, continue to develop new technologies in the new era of artificial intelligence, and advance through challenges in cervical spine surgery, spinal deformity, and minimally invasive spine surgery. Based in Pudong, leading Shanghai, radiating across the Yangtze River Delta, and reaching the whole country, it will benefit the vast number of patients with spinal diseases through superb technology and high-quality service.