Cardiology

The Department of Cardiology at Xuanwu Hospital has undergone 60 years of development. At the very beginning of the hospital’s establishment, under the leadership of Professor Wang Jiarui, a renowned Chinese expert in cardiovascular disease, the Department of Cardiology was founded. From nothing to something and from small beginnings to a larger scale, it gradually developed into a cardiac discipline well known in China, with a full range of specialties, excellent technical capabilities, standardized diagnosis and treatment, distinctive disciplinary characteristics, and equal emphasis on clinical care, teaching, and research. The Department of Cardiology encompasses specialist groups in intensive care, coronary intervention, cardiac pacing and electrophysiology, echocardiography, non-invasive electrocardiographic examinations, cardiac rehabilitation, and other areas. Its annual outpatient volume, number of inpatients, surgical volume, interventional treatment volume, and other indicators all rank among the highest at tertiary Grade A general hospitals in the capital.

The predecessor of cardiac critical care was the coronary care unit (CCU). To adapt to population aging, multiple comorbidities, and changes in the disease spectrum, the CCU is evolving toward a cardiac intensive care unit (CICU). CCU and ICU technologies, concepts, and models of diagnosis and treatment have been integrated, enabling comprehensive management of critically ill cardiovascular patients through infection management, nutritional support, sedation, circulatory support (IABP, ECMO), invasive and non-invasive respiratory support, bedside hemofiltration, bedside ultrasound hemodynamic assessment, and other measures. This has significantly improved the level of care for critically ill patients, making the service an important component of the hospital’s national clinical specialty in critical care medicine and an important support for the development of cardiovascular medicine.

The Department of Cardiology has provided interventional treatment for coronary heart disease for more than 20 years. To date, it has completed the diagnosis and treatment of tens of thousands of coronary artery cases, achieving very good results. Using currently advanced techniques for lesion assessment and treatment, such as rotational atherectomy, laser, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fractional flow reserve (FFR), it performs interventional treatment of complex coronary lesions such as CTO, with very good therapeutic results. The Department of Cardiology has become a national training base for coronary interventional diagnosis and treatment technology.

The cardiac pacing and electrophysiology specialist group has extremely extensive experience in treating bradyarrhythmias with pacemakers and can successfully implant domestically advanced devices such as dual-chamber and triple-chamber pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, achieving good therapeutic results. It is particularly noteworthy that in recent years the Department of Cardiology has made tremendous progress in radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of tachyarrhythmias. Using advanced three-dimensional electrophysiological radiofrequency ablation equipment, it treats various arrhythmias, including frequent premature ventricular contractions, ventricular tachycardia, supraventricular tachycardia, atrial flutter, and atrial fibrillation. The number of cases treated and the therapeutic outcomes rank among the leading in Beijing. The Department of Cardiology has become a national professional training base for interventional treatment of arrhythmias.

The Department of Cardiology has cardiac ultrasound equipment that is among the most advanced in China and experts with extensive experience. In addition to performing general ultrasound examinations, it routinely conducts bedside cardiac ultrasound, transesophageal cardiac ultrasound, right-heart contrast echocardiography, preoperative and postoperative vascular assessments for cardiac surgery, intraoperative monitoring during cardiac surgery and neurosurgery, and other related work.

As the First Clinical Medical School of Capital Medical University, the Department of Cardiology undertakes teaching in physical diagnosis and clinical cardiovascular medicine. It is one of the earliest standardized residency training bases and has a large number of teachers with extensive clinical experience and exceptionally strong teaching abilities, earning numerous honors and a good reputation. The Department of Cardiology was also among the earliest disciplines at Capital Medical University to establish master’s and doctoral training programs, and has trained nearly 100 master’s students, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows.

Guided by the policy of “striving to build a first-class, internationally renowned academic hospital in China,” the Department of Cardiology has always placed great importance on the role of scientific research in promoting disciplinary development. The Cardiovascular Disease Research Laboratory was established in 1986. In 1988, it was the first in China to discover, isolate, and extract angiotensin II from human leukocytes and to establish a method for measuring plasma renin activity. It was also the first in China to propose the characteristics of changes in cardiac function and cardiac structure during the aging process of the Chinese population; the function of the pericardium in synthesizing, storing, and secreting atrial natriuretic peptide; the view that isolated systolic hypertension is primarily manifested by impaired diastolic function; the view that diastolic hypertension is primarily manifested by impaired systolic function; and the differential diagnosis and clinical significance of physiological decline in diastolic function and diastolic heart failure. The department has conducted substantial meaningful work in the individualized treatment of hypertension; the relationship of cardiac structure, blood flow, and function with circulating atrial natriuretic peptide and the renin–angiotensin system; and monitoring the thrombolytic and fibrinolytic systems in acute myocardial infarction. The Department of Cardiology has also undertaken multiple research fund projects and achieved fruitful results. It has successively undertaken more than 20 projects, including national key research programs, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, major projects of the Capital Medical Development Fund, projects of the Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Municipal Education Commission, and the Municipal Health Bureau, and basic and clinical research projects of Capital Medical University. It has won more than 10 science and technology progress awards at or above the municipal or ministerial level.

Xuanwu Hospital is now entering a new period of historical development. Relying on the National Center for Geriatrics and the strengths of the neuroscience discipline, the Department of Cardiology will expand and innovate in the fields of geriatric cardiovascular disease, cardio-cerebral comorbidities, and interdisciplinary diagnosis and treatment. It will develop new strengths for disciplinary development and new models of diagnosis and treatment to benefit patients.