Pain Medicine

In 1972, the Provincial Hospital was the first in China to launch pain diagnosis and treatment services; in 1986, it established an outpatient pain diagnosis and treatment clinic; in 1994, it formally established the Department of Pain; and in 1997, with the approval of the former Provincial Department of Health, it established the Shandong Provincial Clinical Pain Research Center. After half a century of development through challenges and change, it has now become a renowned department in the field of pain diagnosis and treatment in China. The department is currently a National Key Clinical Specialty; a training institution of the Painology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association; a Clinical Pain Diagnosis and Treatment Training Center of the Anesthesiology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association; a designated institution of the Neuropathic Pain Clinic of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association; a “Women’s Civilized Post” of the All-China Women’s Federation; a member institution of the Neuromodulation Alliance of the National Medical Center for Neurological Diseases; the Shandong Provincial Pain Quality Control Center; a Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medicine and Health (Pain Medicine); a standardized training base for “Comprehensive Interventional Diagnosis and Treatment Technology” and “Spinal Endoscopic Diagnosis and Treatment Technology” in Shandong Province; a Shandong Provincial Pain Physician Training Base; and a Demonstration Ward for Standardized Cancer Pain Treatment in Shandong Province. It ranked 3rd in the 2022 and 2023 China Hospital Pain Department Specialty Reputation Rankings (Fudan version), and received the Gold Team Award in the 2023 “Reverence for Life, Honor to Physicians” Public Welfare Selection Event (Shandong).

The department currently has 40 authorized beds, 14 practicing physicians, and 15 nursing staff members, including 9 with doctoral degrees, 7 with senior professional titles, 2 doctoral supervisors, and 6 master’s supervisors. It has 1 Shandong Provincial Young and Middle-aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions, 1 Qilu Leading Talent in Health and Wellness, 1 Outstanding Innovation Team of Shandong Provincial Hospital, 1 Young and Middle-aged Innovative Talent, and 1 participant in the Young Talent Development Program.

For many years, the department has been dedicated to the introduction, application, innovation, and promotion of minimally invasive interventional techniques for chronic pain. It regards “what others do not have, we have; what others have, we have comprehensively; what others have comprehensively, we do expertly” as the goal of its technological development. It possesses major medical equipment including spinal endoscopes, epiduroscopes, needle-knife endoscopes, radiofrequency temperature-controlled therapy systems, Nd-YAG laser generators, low-temperature plasma ablation systems, and ozone generators. The department is divided into the subspecialties of neuropathic pain, spine-origin pain, cancer pain, and bone, joint, and soft-tissue pain. It continually explores diagnostic and treatment approaches for various refractory chronic pain conditions and has achieved encouraging results. The department attaches great importance to the development of visualized diagnosis and treatment technologies. It is currently the only clinical institution in China that simultaneously performs three endoscopic techniques, including transforaminal endoscopy, epiduroscopy, and needle-knife endoscopy. It formulated and published Chinese versions of diagnostic and efficacy-assessment scales for lumbar disc herniation and lumbar spinal canal stenosis, and systematically developed technological innovations in precision minimally invasive interventional treatment for lumbar disc herniation. Using stereotactic localization, it conducts individualized design of indicators such as precise target localization, appropriate puncture pathways, and parameter settings for the regulation of various minimally invasive interventional techniques, and proposed the minimally invasive treatment concept of “multiple channels, precise targets, and combined ablation” for lumbar disc herniation. The innovative research on the lateral recess puncture approach through the epidural space received the Third Prize of the Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award and was included in the National Health Commission’s Ten-Year, Hundred-Project Promotion Program. “Chemolysis of intervertebral discs with collagenase” was approved as a project in the 14th batch of Suitable Health Technology Promotion Projects of Shandong Province. “Radiofrequency modulation treatment for herpes zoster-related pain” received the 2023 Suitable Health Technology Promotion Project of Shandong Province. The application of new technologies has improved the quality of life of a large number of pain patients and attracted numerous patients from across China for diagnosis and treatment.

The department emphasizes translational research and uses scientific research to promote clinical improvement. It successfully performed China’s third and East China’s first fully implantable spinal cord stimulation procedure using the world’s smallest analgesic pulse generator, Intellis™. The department innovatively developed single-port, split-type endoscopic implantation of paddle-shaped spinal cord electrodes for the treatment of intractable neuralgia, significantly reducing surgical trauma, shortening hospital stays, and improving treatment outcomes, thereby attracting numerous patients from within and outside the province.

While emphasizing clinical work, the department also strengthens the coordinated development of “medicine, education, and research.” In recent years, it has undertaken 8 National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, more than 20 provincial- and departmental-level projects, and received 7 provincial- and departmental-level awards. In 2017, it took the lead in Shandong Province in establishing a specialty alliance—the “Specialty Alliance of the Department of Pain of Shandong Provincial Hospital, a National Key Clinical Specialty.” The alliance has 148 contracted member institutions and covers 16 prefecture-level cities in Shandong as well as provinces including Jiangsu and Hubei. Since the department began accepting visiting trainees in 1994, it has trained more than 1,000 people to date, from 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) across China, including renowned domestic hospitals such as Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Xijing Hospital, Nanjing General Hospital, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Jilin Provincial People’s Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, and Qilu Hospital of Shandong University. It is acclaimed as the cradle of “pain clinicians in China” and has made outstanding contributions to the development and expansion of clinical pain services in China.