Interventional Oncology

I. History of the Department’s Development and Structure The Department of Interventional Oncology at Renji Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine was established in August 2013. It is one of the earliest specialized departments in China dedicated exclusively to the clinical practice and scientific research of interventional oncology treatment. In 2019, it became one of the first National Training Bases for Tumor Ablation Treatment Technology designated by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association. The department currently comprises two wards, East and South, with 75 operational beds (50 at the East Campus and 25 at the South Campus), 18 physicians (including 4 chief physicians, 5 associate chief physicians, 7 attending physicians, and 2 resident physicians), and 3 full-time research and logistics staff (including 1 PhD in bioinformatics). It has 4 supervisors of master’s students, and more than 60% of its physicians hold doctoral degrees in medicine. From the outset, the Department of Interventional Oncology at Renji Hospital established its development direction and objectives, striving to advance clinical practice and scientific research in tandem, giving equal weight to basic, translational, and clinical research, and developing its subspecialties by making them larger, more refined, and stronger. It adheres to clinical diagnosis and treatment as its foundation, places emphasis on clinical translational research as well as original, cutting-edge, and pioneering research, and is committed to building a research-oriented interventional oncology department that excels clinically and is strong in scientific research. At the same time, the department attaches importance to subspecialty development and implements a professor-responsibility system according to disease type and treatment technology, striving to make its clinical work larger in scope, more refined, and stronger. After 10 years of arduous effort, the department’s discipline development has begun to take shape, and a relatively sound clinical and research system has gradually been established. Over the past 3 years, the annual average was 7129 discharged oncology patients and 11726 oncology interventional operations and procedures, including 7620 interventional operations of Grade III or above, such as tumor local ablation, vascular intervention, particle implantation, and stent implantation. II. Clinical Treatment Features of the Department: (1) Local Tumor Ablation Treatment 1. All mainstream ablation devices and comprehensive adjunctive treatment modalities: The Department of Interventional Oncology has all major mainstream ablation devices, including radiofrequency, microwave, laser, cryoablation, NanoKnife, and Kangbo knife, as well as comprehensive adjunctive treatment modalities. These mainly include: (1) Local ablation of benign and malignant tumors guided by color ultrasound, including contrast-enhanced ultrasound. (2) CT-guided percutaneous puncture ablation. This is mainly used for lung tumors and some liver, bone, and other tumors. (3) Open MRI-guided ablation or particle implantation. (4) Laparoscopy-assisted local ablation of liver cancer, kidney cancer, and other tumors. (5) Tumor ablation through an open abdominal approach and ablation combined with surgical resection for multiple liver tumors. 2. Local tumor ablation treatments already performed by the department: (1) All types of primary and metastatic liver cancer. Local ablation of large liver cancers, multifocal liver cancers, and liver cancers in high-risk locations is one of the department’s main specialties. (2) Benign tumors such as large hepatic hemangiomas and focal hyperplastic nodules. (3) Thoracic tumors such as pulmonary ground-glass changes, early small lung cancers, and intermediate- and advanced-stage lung cancers that cannot be resected or for which resection is not desired. (4) Benign thyroid and breast tumors, such as thyroid adenomas and breast fibroadenomas. They leave almost no scar, can achieve an effect similar to surgical resection, and avoid the cosmetic effects associated with surgical resection. (5) Abdominal implantation tumors and retroperitoneal tumors. (6) Bone and soft-tissue metastases. (7) Lymph-node metastases in the hepatic hilar region, retroperitoneum, neck, and other locations. (8) Kidney and adrenal tumors. (2) Tumor Vascular Embolization and Chemotherapy Interventional Treatment The department extensively performs vascular interventional treatments for malignant tumors of solid organs such as the liver and lung, including vascular embolization chemotherapy and continuous arterial infusion chemotherapy. It also performs embolization for benign diseases such as uterine fibroids, hepatic hemangiomas, splenomegaly, and hypersplenism. Various emergency interventional procedures under DSA are performed, such as hemostasis, treatment of vascular occlusion after liver transplantation, TIPS, and others. (3) Radioactive Particle Implantation for Tumors (Brachytherapy or Internal Radiotherapy) This is widely used for the effective treatment of dozens of types of tumors in high-risk locations, including lung tumors in high-risk locations, liver cancer with portal-vein tumor thrombus or bile-duct tumor thrombus, bone metastases, peritoneal implantation metastases, and pelvic tumors. (4) Intraluminal Stent Implantation in the Biliary Tract, Esophagus and Gastrointestinal Tract, Airway, and Other Lumens (Including Particle Stents) (5) Other Interventional Treatments or Procedures 1. Totally implantable infusion port implantation. 2. Vertebroplasty. 3. Tumor puncture biopsy. 4. Various puncture drainages. III. Scientific Research: During the 10 years since its establishment, the department has undertaken and completed more than 40 research-fund projects, including various projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, and the Education Commission. At the same time, it has jointly conducted more than 10 basic or clinical translational research projects with relevant laboratories and enterprises, and has independently conducted or participated in more than 20 single-center or national multicenter clinical studies of drugs or medical devices. As first and/or corresponding authors, department members have published 143 articles in Chinese- and English-language journals, including Nature, Sci Transl Med, Cell Res, and Clin Cancer Res (87 first-author/corresponding-author SCI articles, with a maximum IF of 50.0). They have also published 36 SCI articles as sole or co-authors, served as chief editors, associate editors, and contributing authors of 12 monographs, and applied for 6 national utility model patents and 3 invention patents. The department has also established comprehensive clinical and follow-up databases and a tumor biospecimen bank, laying a solid foundation for subsequent clinical and basic research.