Cardiology

The Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of Shuguang Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine was formerly the “Western Medicine Department of Siming Hospital,” established in 1943. Physicians serving there at the time included Dong Chenglang, a pioneer of Chinese cardiology, as well as Yu Songwen, Jin Jun, and others. The cardiovascular specialty was formally established in 1995. Its successive directors included renowned experts and professors such as Xu Naishan, Du Zhenbang, Lei Depei, Hu Wanying, Ji Wenhuang, Tang Jianye, Jiang Meixian, and Wang Xiaolong.

This discipline is the deputy-leading institution for the heart-failure specialty-disease group under a key specialty of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine during the “十一五” period (11th Five-Year Plan); a key specialty of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine during the “十二五” period (12th Five-Year Plan); and a national clinical key specialty. It is also the National Cardiovascular Disease Interventional Diagnosis and Treatment Training Base, the Shanghai Branch of the National Clinical Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine Cardiovascular Diseases, a construction unit for a Shanghai municipal clinical key specialty during the “十三五” period (13th Five-Year Plan), and the leading institution of the TCM Heart Disease Specialty-Disease Alliance. It is a member institution of the National Cardiomyopathy Specialty Alliance and has passed the construction accreditation for the National Heart Failure Center, Chest Pain Center, Hypertension Standards-Compliant Center, Atrial Fibrillation Center, and Cardiac Rehabilitation Center.

As one of the earliest TCM cardiovascular disease specialties established in China, the discipline is the leading institution for the Haipai TCM Ding’s Internal Medicine School Development Project and the Clinical Inheritance Research Base of Ding’s Internal Medicine for Yan Cangshan and Zhang Boyu. TCM academic thought has been passed down continuously, producing many eminent physicians. Zhang Boyu and Yan Cangshan are outstanding representatives of the inheritance of Ding’s Internal Medicine; Yan Shiyun is a fourth-cohort National Medical Master. The discipline also has four Shanghai-renowned TCM physicians: Hu Wanying, Jiang Meixian, Zhou Hua, and Xu Yan. Its members have carried on the tradition from one generation to the next, with continuously improving TCM competence. They have been selected for multiple national-level and provincial/ministerial-level talent-development programs, including Shanghai Leading Talent, Shanghai Medical Rising Star, Shanghai Leading TCM Talent, and National Successors to the Academic Experience of Senior TCM Experts.

The discipline gives equal emphasis to Chinese and Western medicine, with advanced expertise in TCM and proficiency in Western medicine. It performs a range of modern cardiovascular diagnostic and treatment procedures, including coronary angiography, stent implantation, radiofrequency ablation, and pacemaker implantation, thereby improving its ability to manage patients with suspected, difficult-to-treat, and critical illnesses. At the same time, under the guidance of TCM theory, it conducts work focused on difficult conditions in which TCM has distinctive advantages, including chronic heart failure, coronary heart disease, and hypertension. It uses the approaches of “simultaneous treatment of the heart and kidneys” and “treating the heart through the five zang organs” to treat different stages of chronic heart failure; the academic approach of “simultaneous regulation of qi and blood, combining unblocking with supplementation” to treat coronary heart disease; and whole-course prevention and treatment together with individualized diagnosis and treatment to manage hypertension. It has successively developed effective agreed prescription formulas, including Qiangxin Yin (强心饮), Kanli Granules (坎离颗粒), Compound Lujiao Mixture (复方鹿角合剂), and Qianyang Mixture (潜阳合剂). It also widely applies distinctive, appropriate TCM techniques, such as relaxation exercises, foot-bath therapy, auricular-acupoint blood-pressure reduction, and acupoint application, to improve patients’ conditions and substantially enhance the clinical efficacy of TCM in treating cardiovascular diseases.

The discipline is an authorized training site for master’s and doctoral students in TCM and integrated TCM and Western medicine, as well as a postdoctoral research station. It has successively undertaken major projects, including the Ministry of Science and Technology’s “七五” (Seventh Five-Year Plan) key project, national major science and technology special projects, the 863 Program, and major new-drug special projects. It has also received support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for 28 projects over 13 consecutive years and has applied for more than 20 patents. With the support of a leading standardized clinical drug-trial research platform in China, it has led and conducted multiple registered multicenter clinical studies, as well as contributed to numerous TCM industry guidelines and expert consensus statements, further establishing the discipline’s academic standing and specialty influence in China.