Neurology

Tongji Hospital’s Department of Neurology was established in 1947; its predecessor was the Department of Neurology of the Sino-American Hospital affiliated with the Medical School of Shanghai Tongji University. In 1952, Professors Liu Yide, Zai Chunhe, and Liu Ximin founded the Department of Neuropsychiatry. In 1955, the hospital moved from Shanghai to Wuhan, and a neurology ward was opened the following year, making it the earliest neuropsychiatry center in Hubei Province. The number of beds increased from the initial 24 to 52 in 1958 and remained at 52 thereafter. In 2006, the number of beds increased to 108; in 2012, ward expansion increased the number to 5 wards with 178 beds; in 2015, a neurology ward was opened at the Guanggu Campus; in 2016, a neurology ward was opened at the Sino-French New City Campus; by then, Tongji Neurology had 336 beds, 400,000 annual outpatient and emergency visits, and 13,000 inpatients. With its distinctive innovative achievements and academic influence, Tongji Hospital’s Department of Neurology has, since its founding by senior pioneers, passed down its legacy from generation to generation. Particularly over the past more than ten years, under the leadership of Professors Wang Wei, Zhu Suiqiang, and Tang Zhouping, it has vigorously pursued development and concentrated its efforts on innovation to achieve breakthroughs, developing a three-in-one model that integrates a complete subspecialty structure, a well-balanced professional echelon, and equal emphasis on clinical work and research, and establishing and developing specialized treatment centers for cerebrovascular diseases (hemorrhagic and ischemic), epilepsy and sleep disorders, neurodegenerative and genetic disorders, neuropsychology and dementia, neuroimmunological diseases, neuromuscular diseases, nervous system infections, and neurocritical care. Across China’s professional community, Tongji Hospital’s Department of Neurology is renowned for its competitive neurology specialty. At present, the distinctive diagnostic and treatment technologies carried out by Tongji Hospital’s Department of Neurology include: Leksell stereotactic precision treatment combined with rt-PA for supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage, balloon angioplasty and stent implantation for intracranial and extracranial arteries, endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke, stent implantation for venous sinus stenosis and mechanical thrombectomy for venous sinus thrombosis, recanalization of chronic occlusions of intracranial and extracranial arteries, standardized preoperative evaluation of refractory epilepsy, individualized diagnosis and treatment of myasthenia gravis, application of CAR-T therapy (the first internationally) and immunoadsorption (the first in the province) to neuroimmunological diseases, and personalized precision diagnosis and treatment of cognitive impairment, all of which are at the national leading level. Currently, the Department of Neurology has 1 recipient of the National Natural Science Foundation of China Distinguished Young Scholars Fund, 2 Ministry of Education Chang Jiang Scholars, 1 Young Chang Jiang Scholar, and 1 Young Top-notch Talent of the Organization Department of the Central Committee.