Otolaryngology

The Department of Otorhinolaryngology of Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine was established in 1944 and has a rich humanistic heritage. It is a member institution of the collaborative group for key specialties under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 12th Five-Year Plan, and an inheritance base for the “Haipai Traditional Chinese Medicine Schools and Characteristic Technology Support Project—Zhang’s Laryngology.” It has long been at the forefront of clinical research in traditional Chinese medicine laryngology in China. It is a cooperative institution for the National Key Research and Development Program Special Project for the Primary Prevention of Deafness, together with the China Hearing Health Alliance, the Ninth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the Institute of Otology of the School of Medicine of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The department is equipped with advanced facilities, including imported multifunctional comprehensive treatment units; electrical audiometers, acoustic impedance meters, and otoacoustic emission analyzers; electronic nasopharyngolaryngoscopes, bronchoscopes, nasal endoscopes, otoscopes, laryngoscopes, and image display and printing systems; a millimeter-wave therapy device; a surgical power suction-cutting system; a CO2 laser therapy machine; an ultra-high-definition endoscopic surgical display system; an operating microscope for the ear; a multichannel sleep monitor; plasma radiofrequency ablation devices; and other instruments and equipment. The department currently has 3 chief physicians, 3 deputy chief physicians, 2 attending physicians, 5 resident physicians, and 1 audiology technician, including 2 medical doctorates, 8 master’s degree holders, and 2 graduate supervisors. It handles more than 80,000 outpatient and emergency visits annually, and more than 1,000 inpatient and surgical cases annually.

Department specialties:

Endoscopic minimally invasive surgery: More than 5,000 endoscopic operations have been completed, involving refractory epistaxis; deviated nasal septum; chronic rhinosinusitis with or without nasal polyps; sinus cysts; orbital and optic canal decompression; benign and malignant sinonasal tumors, such as hemangioma, inverted papilloma, osteoma, squamous cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma, chondrosarcoma, and others; adenoid hypertrophy; nasopharyngeal tumors; parapharyngeal space tumors; epiglottic cysts; vocal cord polyps; laryngeal and hypopharyngeal tumors; tympanic membrane and nasal septal perforations; and foreign-body removal under electronic bronchoscopy and esophagoscopy, among others.

Nose–skull base and nose–eye-related surgery: Procedures include surgery for malignant sinonasal and skull-base tumors, thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy, dacryocystorhinostomy, pituitary tumor resection, and repair of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea.

Head and neck tumor surgery: Procedures include surgery for tumors of the parotid, submandibular, and sublingual glands; thyroglossal and branchial cleft cysts and fistulas; cervical schwannomas; tonsillar carcinoma; resection of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers with laryngeal functional reconstruction; neck lymph-node dissection; and others.

Ear surgery: Procedures include excision of congenital preauricular fistulas, external auditory canaloplasty, tympanoplasty, modified radical mastoidectomy, facial nerve decompression, and others.

Comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of snoring disorders: This includes endoscopic localization of the level of upper-airway stenosis, multichannel sleep monitoring, nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, nasal cavity expansion surgery, including septoplasty, inferior turbinate fracture-displacement, and plasma radiofrequency ablation; tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy; uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (H-UPP); and others.

Features of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine: The department adopts measures such as “removing pathogenic factors through surgery and supporting healthy qi after surgery” and “the same disease with different patterns, different diseases with the same pattern, and treatment according to pattern differentiation.” It uses characteristic traditional Chinese medicine treatments, including the “Fu Yuan Formula,” acupuncture and moxibustion, acupoint application and physiotherapy, acupoint injection, and nasal hillock incision therapy, to improve the comprehensive treatment outcomes of otorhinolaryngological diseases.

Department achievements:

The department has successively supervised 18 master’s students and undertaken 15 scientific research projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (3 projects), the former Ministry of Health, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau, and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. “Exploration and Practice of a Collaborative Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Diagnosis and Treatment Program for Chronic Rhinosinusitis (2021-W12)” received the Second Prize of the Shanghai Science and Technology Award for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine. “Application of Comprehensive Traditional Chinese Medicine Intervention During the Perioperative Period of Chronic Rhinosinusitis” received the Third Prize of the 13th Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Award. The study “Treatment of Vocal Cord Nodules and Polyps with Xiaojie Kaiyin Granules” received the Third Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. “A Surgical Instrument for Snare Electrocoagulation” received a utility model patent. More than 200 professional academic papers, including SCI papers, have been published. The department has participated in compiling more than 10 textbooks, including Traditional Chinese Medicine Otorhinolaryngology and others. The 12th Five-Year national higher-education planning textbook Traditional Chinese Medicine Otorhinolaryngology; the 13th Five-Year national higher-education planning textbooks Traditional Chinese Medicine Otorhinolaryngology and Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Otorhinolaryngology; the 14th Five-Year national higher-education planning textbook Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Otorhinolaryngology; the concise textbook Traditional Chinese Medicine Otorhinolaryngology; and Nursing of the Five Sense Organs were deputy editor-in-chief works. The 12th Five-Year and 13th Five-Year standardized training planning textbook for resident physicians, Traditional Chinese Medicine Science of the Five Sense Organs, was edited as editor-in-chief. The department has served as chief editor or co-editor of more than 20 works.

Development vision:

The department adopts talent-development measures of “passing on, mentoring, sending people out, and bringing people in.” Through rational planning and by centering its work on the national 14th Five-Year Plan for the development of traditional Chinese medicine, it will expand and strengthen the “Zhang’s Laryngology” inheritance research studio for traditional Chinese medicine schools; ensure that clinical practice remains fundamental; use teaching and research to promote clinical practice; and pursue coordinated development of medicine, education, and research through multiple measures. It will continue to strengthen the development of specialized departments and specialty programs for integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine treatment of sinonasal diseases, snoring disorders, voice disorders, tinnitus and hearing loss, vertigo, oral and maxillofacial diseases, and head and neck tumors, so as to provide the general public with higher-quality, more efficient, and more convenient medical services.