Heart Disease Department

The Heart Center of Yueyang Hospital is one of the few centers in China accredited with the national “Five-Heart” certifications: National Chest Pain Center, Atrial Fibrillation Center, Heart Failure Center, Stroke Center, and Cardiac Rehabilitation Center. It is a branch of the National Clinical Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine Cardiovascular Diseases; the institution serving as the chairing unit of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Professional Committee of the National Association of Chinese and Western Integrative Medicine Physicians; the leading unit of the Yangtze River Delta Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Alliance; the chairing unit of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Professional Committee of the Shanghai Association of Chinese and Western Integrative Medicine; and the chairing unit of the Interventional Cardiology Branch of the Shanghai Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It comprises the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Cardiology, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Cardiac Function Laboratory.

The Department of Cardiovascular Diseases builds on standardized Western medical treatment while leveraging the strengths of traditional Chinese medicine. Under the leadership of Professor Yan Shiyun, a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine, it has established a heritage system of Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine — Shanghai Famous TCM Physician — Hongkou Famous TCM Physician — Yueyang Famous Physician, and gives full play to the diverse diagnostic and treatment model of Haipai traditional Chinese medicine, which embraces and integrates multiple influences. It mutually supports interventional procedures in the Department of Cardiology and surgical treatment in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. The department is committed to improving the prevention and treatment of heart disease with Chinese characteristics, providing patients with heart disease with the highest-quality medical services, cultivating young professionals, and supporting sustainable development.

Under the guidance of Professor Yan Shiyun, a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Director Fu Deyu, a renowned TCM physician of Hongkou District and Shanghai’s first leading TCM talent, leads the department team. Based on the inheritance of Haipai traditional Chinese medicine and combined with modern medicine, the team integrates Chinese and Western approaches, draws on their complementary strengths, and achieves significant results. It is particularly skilled in treating cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, heart failure, coronary heart disease, and cardiac arrhythmias.

As a major participating department, the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases contributed to the formulation of guidelines and expert consensuses, including the Guidelines for the Prevention, Treatment and Management of Hypertension at the National Primary Level, 2020 Edition, and the Guidelines for the Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypertension in Traditional Chinese Medicine. For ten consecutive years, the department has hosted national continuing-education courses, disseminating Haipai TCM experience in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and training more than 60 master’s, doctoral, and other TCM inheritors, including more than 10 doctors. It has established a “point-to-area” inheritance system and has achieved a certain degree of influence nationwide.

Specialized Subdivisions of the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases

Hypertension Subspecialty

The Hypertension Specialty is an A-level specialty of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The specialty has specifically developed Danyu Hemaifang, Gengnian Pingmai Decoction, and Modified Yueju Pill, among others, and comprehensively applies various characteristic TCM diagnostic and treatment methods, including auricular points, acupuncture, and foot baths, to treat hypertension. Twenty years of clinical and basic research have confirmed that these methods can improve patients’ clinical symptoms and blood pressure and protect against target-organ damage. They have received support from four National Natural Science Foundation of China projects. Relevant achievements have been promoted and applied in numerous primary hospitals through continuing-education courses, and have received awards including the Shanghai Science and Technology Award and the Shanghai Science and Technology Award for Chinese and Western Integrative Medicine.

Heart Failure Subspecialty

The Heart Failure Subspecialty is supported by the national-level Heart Failure Center and focuses mainly on the integrated use of Chinese and Western medicine to treat chronic heart failure and refractory heart failure, including cardiac amyloidosis. Heart failure is a key disease and clinical advantageous disease of the Shanghai TCM (cultivation) Cardiovascular Disease Specialty. Based on inheriting the academic thinking of Professor Yan Shiyun, a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the department combines it with the “Circulation of One Qi” theory and has proposed methods such as “raising yang, lifting sinking, and promoting urination” and “pattern differentiation of the Triple Burner.” These methods achieve satisfactory results in relieving patients’ heart-failure conditions, improving prognosis, and reducing readmission rates.

Coronary Heart Disease Subspecialty

Coronary heart disease is a common cardiovascular disease. Modern medicine mainly relies on surgical treatment, but some patients continue to experience discomfort such as chest tightness and palpitations after surgery. The Coronary Heart Disease Subspecialty has developed comprehensive treatment plans including the patented Taohong Tongluo Granules and Taohong Tongluo acupoint patches. These are used for postoperative rehabilitation of patients with coronary heart disease who have undergone PCI and for conditions such as coronary microcirculatory dysfunction, with significant effects in improving microcirculation and relieving angina.

Palpitations Subspecialty

Palpitations are a common clinical symptom. Patients may have concomitant cardiac arrhythmias, such as premature ventricular contractions, or may have psychosomatic cardiac disease, accompanied by anxiety or depression. As a key disease of the Shanghai TCM (cultivation) Cardiovascular Disease Specialty, the department has established comprehensive TCM interventions including the Sanhe Formula and the Tiandan Shugan Exercise. These have the effects of soothing the liver and relieving depression, strengthening the spleen and resolving phlegm, and calming the heart and settling palpitations. They can effectively improve symptoms such as palpitations and insomnia and effectively reduce the number of premature ventricular contractions.