Medical Oncology and Hematology Department

The Oncology • Hematology Department was established in 1995. Along with the hospital’s reform and innovation, it has continuously gained vitality, developed, and expanded. It currently has 100 beds, 4 professors, 1 chief technologist, 2 associate professors, 10 medical doctors, and 4 returnees who completed training or studies in the United States and Canada. The department specializes primarily in the treatment of malignant solid tumors and various hematological diseases. In accordance with the principles of evidence-based medicine, it conducts multidisciplinary collaboration with the Departments of Surgery, Radiation Oncology, Interventional Medicine, Pathology, the Central Laboratory, and other specialties. For every patient admitted, staging is determined on the basis of comprehensive relevant examinations. With reference to the US NCCN Guidelines and China’s Guidelines for Standardized Treatment of Solid Tumors, the department formulates the best standardized comprehensive treatment plan, actively promotes the application of new technologies and therapies, and provides high-quality services at a high starting point and high standard.

Solid tumors include lung cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, and soft-tissue tumors. On the basis of dedicated efforts to explore the biological behavior and clinical characteristics of tumor cells, the department adopts internationally standardized chemotherapy regimens to provide patients with optimal standardized treatment. In addition to conventional combination chemotherapy, comprehensive measures such as cytokine therapy, immunotherapy, endocrine therapy, and traditional Chinese medicine treatment are also provided. In particular, with the rapid advances in science in recent years, molecular targeted drug therapy has been widely applied in clinical practice. For example, for non-small cell lung cancer, we administer Iressa, Tarceva, and the multi-targeted drug pemetrexed, achieving remarkable therapeutic results. In the treatment of breast cancer, greater emphasis is placed on endocrine therapy and molecular targeted therapy in addition to combination chemotherapy. “Individualized” treatment is provided according to the characteristics of different patients. The department has accumulated extensive experience in drug therapies such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), the aromatase inhibitors anastrozole and exemestane.

The department also places particular emphasis on preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy, postoperative consolidation chemotherapy, intracavitary chemotherapy, and palliative chemotherapy for selected patients. It was the first in the province to apply tumor gene-chip diagnostic technology in clinical practice. This technology enables dynamic observation of the metabolism and changes of tumor cells in patients, while also monitoring the diagnostic efficacy of malignant tumors and providing a reliable basis for formulating clinical diagnosis and treatment plans. In the treatment of metastatic bone cancer, combination chemotherapy together with bisphosphonates, inhibitors of osteoclast precursors, has been used in recent years, enabling many patients with advanced tumors to stand again and begin a new life. For cancer patients with massive pleural, abdominal, or pericardial effusions caused by cancer metastasis, catheter drainage combined with alternating triple-drug therapy (chemotherapeutic drugs, traditional Chinese medicine, interleukin, etc.) is adopted, enabling most patients to achieve remission. At the same time, in clinical practice, particular attention is paid to resolving and promptly managing superior vena cava syndrome, spinal cord compression, hypercalcemia, tumor lysis syndrome, and other complications in some patients with advanced tumors, thereby reducing suffering and improving quality of life.

Treatment of hematological diseases mainly includes various types of anemia (iron-deficiency anemia, hemolytic anemia, megaloblastic anemia), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), various forms of acute and chronic leukemia, malignant lymphoma, multiple myeloma, myeloproliferative diseases (polycythemia vera, myelofibrosis), thrombocytopenic purpura, hemophilia, and others. To improve the diagnosis and treatment of hematological diseases, the department has successively introduced bone marrow pathological diagnosis, bone marrow chromosome analysis, cytochemical staining, immunophenotyping of leukemia, and fusion-gene testing on the basis of peripheral-blood and bone-marrow morphological diagnosis.

In the treatment of leukemia, in addition to conventional chemotherapy, we have introduced molecular targeted therapy. A successful model in the treatment of malignant hematological diseases is the use of arsenic trioxide combined with chemotherapy and sequential therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), achieving a 100% remission rate with no cases of relapse. Chronic myeloid leukemia is characterized by a chromosomal translocation that forms the BCR/ABL fusion gene, which expresses the p210 protein with strong tyrosine kinase activity. We use imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) as first-line therapy; it specifically and strongly inhibits the leukemia fusion gene. Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia receiving this treatment have achieved high rates of hematologic and cytogenetic remission. In the treatment of malignant lymphoma, the application of monoclonal antibodies has led to breakthrough progress. For non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma, the CHOP regimen combined with rituximab (Rituxan) has significantly increased the complete remission rate and prolonged disease-free survival. Rituximab has also achieved good therapeutic results in the treatment of refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura.

The Hematology Laboratory currently has 5 staff members, including 1 chief technologist, 1 attending physician, 1 senior technologist, 1 technologist, and 1 senior nurse. The laboratory is equipped with 1 Olympus BX53 five-person multi-viewing microscope, 1 ultra-high-magnification microscopic analyzer, 2 bone marrow cell microscopic image analysis systems, 3 Olympus optical microscopes, 1 Leica microtome, and 1 multi-tumor-marker protein chip analyzer. The laboratory performs routine examinations including bone marrow cell morphology, cytochemical staining of bone marrow cells, bone marrow pathological diagnosis, and peripheral blood-cell differential counts. Its multifunctional ultra-high-magnification microanalyzer has a resolution of up to 0.3 μm and can directly observe the morphology of cells, pathogenic microorganisms, and other formed elements in blood, body fluids, and secretions, providing a basis for disease diagnosis and treatment and for monitoring subhealth conditions. The “multi-tumor-marker protein chip assay” performed by the department is a new protein-chip testing technology first introduced in the three northeastern provinces. It can simultaneously detect twelve tumor markers: AFP, CEA, CA125, CA153, NSE, CA19-9, CA242, PSA, Free-PSA, β-HCG, Ferritin, and HGH. It is of great reference value for the diagnosis of malignant tumors, assessment of disease stage, monitoring of treatment efficacy, and evaluation of prognosis and outcome.

The Oncology • Hematology Department is a master’s degree-granting program in internal medicine at the School of Medicine of Jilin University, directly administered by the Ministry of Education. It is a continuing education center and a national clinical pharmacology base for the province, and is also responsible for province-wide remote medical consultations. It has successively undertaken and completed 14 projects of the Department of Science and Technology of Jilin Province, 1 major project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, 5 projects of the Changchun Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, and 9 collaborative projects. More than 80 papers have been published in core journals, including more than 10 indexed by SCI. The department has received 1 second prize and 1 third prize for Scientific and Technological Progress of Jilin Province, as well as 4 Jilin University Medical Achievement Awards. In recent years, 4 staff members have successively undertaken training and advanced studies at the University of Louisville and Thomas Jefferson University in the United States, and the University of Alberta in Canada. In addition, the department places great emphasis on continuously improving professional competence and updating cutting-edge knowledge. Staff members regularly attend top-level international and domestic academic conferences, including ASCO, CSCO, and ASH, and have mastered the latest advances in the field. The department also frequently organizes provincial-, university-, and hospital-level continuing medical education activities, sharing hematology-specific knowledge related to other departments with colleagues. Small lectures are held regularly within the department to continuously improve the standard of medical care. The department also integrates knowledge from different areas and incorporates the most advanced treatment concepts into daily medical practice.

The Oncology • Hematology Department is a team with advanced diagnostic and treatment expertise and extensive clinical experience. With a comfortable inpatient environment and a thoughtful service philosophy, it is dedicated to serving the numerous patients with oncology and hematological diseases.