Rheumatology

The Rheumatology Department of Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine is a clinical department integrating medical care, teaching and research, focusing mainly on traditional Chinese medicine, with integrated Chinese-Western medicine diagnosis and treatment of rheumatic immune diseases. As a member unit of the Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Rheumatic and Immune Diseases, our department cooperates with the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology and its institute of Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine; as a collaborative unit of the East China Regional (Rheumatology) Diagnosis and Treatment Center under the guidance of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, it cooperates with Guanghua Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Department director Pan Xin, as an academic heir of the nationally renowned veteran TCM doctor Yan Qianlin and a senior TCM physician of Shuguang Hospital, currently leads a team of 8 members, including 2 chief physicians, 3 associate chief physicians and 3 attending physicians. There are 2 master's supervisors, 3 members with doctoral degrees and 2 doctoral candidates. Department members have been selected into talent cultivation programs such as the Shanghai Young Physicians Training Funding Program and the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Reserve Expert Cultivation Program. At present, rheumatology and immunology specialty clinics, expert clinics and special-needs clinics, as well as a gout clinic, are offered at both the East and West hospitals, with an annual outpatient volume of more than 20,000 visits.

At the same time, the department attaches importance to the coordinated development of clinical care, teaching and research. In recent years, it has undertaken nearly 10 research projects including those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, obtained 2 nationally authorized patents, and published more than 50 papers at home and abroad. As a clinical teaching and clinical internship and observership base of Shuguang Clinical Medical College of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and a Shanghai standardized residency training base, the department undertakes Chinese- and English-language teaching of courses such as Fundamentals of Diagnostics, Internal Medicine of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Internal Medicine of Western Medicine for undergraduate, seven-year program, postgraduate and international students of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well as clinical observerships, clinical internships and the supervision of standardized residency trainees. It won the first prize in the 2018 National TCM Residency Teaching Ward Round Competition of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, has repeatedly been rated an excellent teaching department of Shuguang Clinical Medical College, and has trained dozens of postgraduate students.

Drawing on the treatment principles for Bi syndrome of ancient physicians and the experience of contemporary physicians, and absorbing the strengths of various schools, the department has established the viewpoint of treating various rheumatic immune diseases from phlegm, stasis, heat, toxin and deficiency, highlighting the characteristics of TCM treatment. It has created unique and effective formulas for various difficult rheumatic diseases: such as the Bushen Jiedu Tongluo Formula (Kidney-Tonifying, Detoxifying and Collateral-Dredging Formula) for rheumatoid arthritis (Wang Bi), the Qingfei Huayu Formula (Lung-Clearing and Stasis-Resolving Formula) for connective tissue disease-related interstitial lung disease (Fei Bi), the Miaoling Xianzi Decoction for gout, the Bushen Huoxue Qiangdu Formula (Kidney-Tonifying, Blood-Activating and Spine-Strengthening Formula) for ankylosing spondylitis (Ji Bi), and the Runzao Jiedu Formula (Dryness-Moistening and Detoxifying Formula) and the Bushen Runzao Formula (Kidney-Tonifying and Dryness-Moistening Formula) for Sjögren's syndrome; at the same time, it has achieved fruitful results in clinical and basic research on these effective formulas. The department emphasizes oral Chinese medicine supplemented by external treatments (self-made Chinese medicine dressings applied locally to joints, hot compresses, Chinese medicine fumigation and washing, etc.) to improve clinical efficacy, regulate immunity and improve patients' prognosis. It has opened a gout clinic to formulate and optimize individualized Chinese-Western medicine diagnosis and treatment plans for patients, forming a gout diagnosis and treatment sub-specialty with Shuguang characteristics.