Coloproctology

The Department of Colorectal and Anal Diseases of Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was established in 1954 (formerly the Hemorrhoids Department of the Fifth Outpatient Clinic of Shanghai Public Medical Care), and its first director was Professor Wen Maokang, vice president of the Anorectal Branch of the Chinese National Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, director of the Shanghai Anorectal Society, and a renowned TCM physician in Shanghai, who served for many years as a specialist healthcare physician for national leaders. It is currently a key specialty of the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau and a training site for master's and doctoral students in TCM anorectal medicine.

Our department’s Yan method for treating anorectal diseases is “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hongkou District”. More than 120 years ago, the founder Yan Haibao (1880-1944) studied under a medical monk residing at Tiantong Temple in eastern Zhejiang, learning the treatment of various diseases in TCM surgery. His early disciple Wen Maokang (1911-1996, second-generation inheritor) began studying under his master at age 14; ten years later, after receiving his master's transmission, he specialized exclusively in treating anorectal diseases. In 1934, he began practicing medicine in Shanghai and became renowned for treating internal hemorrhoids and anal fistulas. In 1954, he established the Department of Anorectal Diseases of the Fifth Outpatient Clinic of Shanghai Public Medical Care (predecessor of Shanghai Yueyang Hospital). Elder Wen was the first to apply the dry hemorrhoid treatment, rubber-band ligation, and a series of distinctive TCM preparations in anorectal clinical practice, and, together with his disciple, veteran TCM physician Hong Caiyu (third-generation inheritor), founded ligation therapy.

In 1995, Yueyang Hospital moved to a new site in Dabaishu, Hongkou. Under the leadership of Director Sun Jianhua (fourth-generation inheritor), the spectrum of diseases treated had expanded to include all types of benign colorectal and anal diseases, and endoscopic diagnosis and treatment based on TCM was established at Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Through the continuous development of several generations over more than 60 years, the department gradually formed a complete set of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for treating anorectal diseases, characterized by the efficacy of TCM. The “suction ligation method” developed in 1980 received the third prize for scientific and technological progress from Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 2003, “mucosal ligation above the hemorrhoidal cushions” was named a distinctive diagnostic and treatment technology project of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Since 2016, under the leadership of Director Wang Zhenyi (fifth-generation inheritor), the department has continuously inherited and developed the therapeutic philosophy and technical essence of anorectal disease treatment, and has become a key specialty of the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau. In 2019, it received funding from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s “High-Level University Peak-Building and Excellence-Creating Action Plan” to establish the Wang Zhenyi Peak-Plateau Innovation Team; in 2020, anorectal disease treatment became an intangible cultural heritage project of Hongkou District; and in 2021, the department became a doctoral degree-granting site of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Over the past 20 years, the team has gradually entered the leading ranks domestically and internationally in such fields as integrated Chinese and Western minimally invasive treatment of benign anorectal diseases, treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and its perianal lesions, and treatment of chronic pelvic floor diseases.

The department currently has 16 full-time physicians, including 1 doctoral supervisor, 8 master's supervisors, 8 physicians with senior professional titles, 5 with intermediate titles, and 3 with junior titles; the proportion of personnel with master's or doctoral degrees is 100%. Among them, 5 doctors have studied abroad successively in France, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, and Australia. A professional team has been formed with a solid foundation in TCM theory, strong clinical skills, and coverage of clinical care, research, and teaching.

The scope of diagnosis and treatment includes: surgical or nonsurgical treatment of hemorrhoidal disease at all stages, anal fistulas, perianal abscesses, anal fissures, hypertrophy of the anal papillae, anal cryptitis, rectal polyps, pilonidal sinus, and other conditions; TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment combined with biofeedback therapy for functional constipation, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and other conditions; diagnosis by electronic colonoscopy and endoscopic treatment (endoscopic resection of benign colorectal polyps and early cancers); integrated Chinese and Western treatment of perianal skin diseases; and postoperative conditioning with TCM medicines after colorectal cancer surgery.