Traditional Surgery Department

The Traditional Surgery Department of Shuguang Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine is one of the earliest departments established in the history of our hospital, and, as it has developed to the present day, its scope of disease diagnosis and treatment mainly covers sore and ulcer diseases and glandular diseases, including peripheral vascular diseases, thyroid diseases, andrological diseases, breast diseases, connective-tissue diseases, refractory ulcers, and difficult and complicated surgical conditions, with treatment highlighting the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine, especially TCM external-treatment techniques.

In recent years, the department has undertaken multiple research projects at various levels, many of its staff members have, on multiple occasions, received talent-development programs at various levels, it has published more than 20 papers in Chinese core journals and SCI papers, and it won the runner-up position in the 2022 evaluation of the academic influence of TCM surgery specialties in national TCM hospitals.

The department makes the integrated Chinese-Western diagnosis and treatment of refractory ulcers associated with peripheral vascular diseases and of thyroid diseases a specialty focus, regarding diabetic gangrene, lower-extremity arteriosclerotic occlusive disease, lower-extremity varicose veins, venous ulcers, erysipelas, benign and malignant body-surface tumors, and thyroid nodules as the conditions in which it has treatment advantages, flexibly applying TCM external-treatment techniques such as silkworm-nibbling debridement, whale-swallowing debridement, the binding method, the hooping method, and thread-drawing drainage in treating various refractory wounds, using various topical Chinese medicines such as Sanmiao Powder, Jinhuang Powder, Hongyou Ointment, Zicao Ointment, and Shengji Powder at different stages and time phases, emphasizing combined internal and external treatment and stage-based syndrome differentiation, with significant efficacy, particularly outstanding efficacy in the clinical challenge of “limb preservation in gangrene” among patients with diabetic gangrene, while, in treating thyroid diseases, inheriting and innovating the essence of the dialectical thinking of Shanghai-style Xia School of Surgery, “treating different diseases with the same treatment” and “treating internally and externally together,” to treat various thyroid diseases and achieving good results in dispersing thyroid nodules, reducing thyroid antibodies, and improving postoperative immune imbalance after thyroid surgery, and, in recent years, the Traditional Surgery Department has combined Chinese and Western medicine and actively carried out various day surgeries, including body-surface tumor excision, sinus-tract excision, varicose-vein closure, thyroid-nodule ablation, tophus removal, and repair of various chronic ulcers, with the surgical results receiving widespread acclaim from patients.