Neurosurgery

The Department of Neurosurgery of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, was established in 1994. It is a comprehensive department integrating clinical medicine, medical research and teaching in the three clinical tracks. The department currently has 33 licensed physicians, including 6 with senior professional titles, 5 with associate senior professional titles, 10 attending physicians and 12 resident physicians. It has carried out the diagnosis and treatment of all types of diseases within the field of neurosurgery, including comprehensive treatment of central nervous system tumors, endoscopic minimally invasive surgery (including endoscopic skull base surgery), functional neurosurgery, diagnosis and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases (including interventional treatment of cerebrovascular disease), neurosurgical procedures for diseases of the spine and spinal cord and for congenital and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, and the emergency rescue of craniocerebral trauma. At present the department has a full set of imported neurosurgical facilities at the world's advanced level, such as a neuronavigation system, stereotactic apparatus, three-dimensional digital subtraction angiography (DSA), neuroendoscopes, cerebral endoscopes, as well as a complete set of world-renowned conventional and microsurgical neurosurgical instruments; its hardware conditions rank among the leading in China, and the various minimally invasive neurosurgical procedures already performed involve little trauma and achieve good therapeutic results for patients.

Technical Advantages

Guided by "minimally invasive and precise", the department has set itself the development goal of building a minimally invasive and precision neurosurgery that is the most technologically advanced and the most complete in specialties in China, fully applying minimally invasive techniques and the concept of precision to all fields of neurosurgery, including functional neurosurgery, the diagnosis and treatment of intracranial tumors, the diagnosis and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, spinal cord diseases, craniocerebral trauma and the diagnosis and treatment of congenital malformations. In 2000 it was the first in the province to introduce neuronavigation; at present the overall level of the department's minimally invasive techniques leads the province.

Academic Status

The department undertakes the training of neurosurgery specialist physicians and the teaching of the seven-year master's program and of undergraduate students of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, has hosted the "Progress in the Treatment of Adult Hydrocephalus" training courses and neurosurgery forums on multiple occasions, and its academic status is advanced nationally and among the front ranks within the province. The overall level of the following specialty services and techniques leads the province.

• Endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery; endoscopic ventricular surgery; endoscopic transcranial surgery; endoscope-assisted surgery; endoscopic surgery for cerebral hemorrhage, etc.

• Treatment of adult normal pressure hydrocephalus

• Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, torsion dystonia, etc.

• Surgical clipping or embolization of intracranial aneurysms

• Carotid endarterectomy for carotid artery stenosis to prevent stroke

• Microvascular decompression for the radical treatment of hemifacial spasm, trigeminal neuralgia, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, etc.

• Epilepsy surgery

• Surgical treatment of diseases of the spine and spinal canal

• Comprehensive treatment of brain glioma

Research Achievements

The department has strong scientific research strength and has developed a certain foundation and clinical research in brain trauma, cerebral hemorrhage, brain tumors and other aspects, and has achieved certain results. The discipline has so far led and undertaken more than 10 national and provincial/ministerial-level research projects. It has published more than 100 academic papers, of which more than 30 are indexed by SCI; it has served as chief editor of 1 volume of "Neurosurgical Intensive Care" (ISBN 7-308-02925-5, Zhejiang University Press) and as a contributing editor of 1 textbook.