Urology

The Department of Urology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, was established when the hospital opened in 1994. Over 30 years, under the leadership of its three department heads, Li Xinde, Zhang Zhigen and Li Gonghui, the department has developed rapidly. Its overall capability ranks among the leading departments in Zhejiang Province, while its clinical scale and technical expertise are among the leading levels nationally. It currently has 18 clinical teams and 62 physicians, including 13 Chief Physicians and 10 Associate Chief Physicians (Chinese professional ranks); 4 supervisors of doctoral candidates and 8 supervisors of master's students. It performs more than 10,000 inpatient operations and approximately 4,000 day-surgery procedures annually, with an average hospital stay of 3.91 days.

Technical strengths

The department specialises in minimally invasive surgery. Since 1995, it has pioneered laparoscopic urological surgery in Zhejiang Province. In September 1999, it performed the province's first laparoscopic ureterolithotomy, followed in December 1999 by the province's first laparoscopic nephrectomy. In 2015, the department introduced robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. It performs more than 1,000 robotic operations annually and has remained among the national leaders for several consecutive years. Its distinctive procedures include single-port robot-assisted radical prostatectomy through transperineal and extraperitoneal approaches; robotic removal of vena caval tumour thrombi (levels III and IV); buccal mucosa graft ureteroplasty; renal vein transposition; robotic total pelvic exenteration; percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in the lateral decubitus position; combined surgery using two endoscopes in the fully prone position; and microsurgical replantation of an amputated penis.

Academic roles

The department is the institutional affiliation of the chair-elect of the Urology Branch of the Zhejiang Medical Association.

It is also the institutional affiliation of the chair of the Andrology Branch of the Zhejiang Medical Association.

Research

The department has undertaken a total of 24 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and 4 Zhejiang provincial key research and development projects. Its research has produced numerous high-level, high-quality papers in internationally renowned journals, including Journal of Urology, Advanced Functional Materials and Molecular Cancer.