Gastroenterology

Since the Department of Gastroenterology of Zhejiang Hospital became an independent department in 1984, it has undergone more than four decades of development and accumulated expertise, and has grown into a comprehensive department integrating medical care, scientific research, and teaching, with a complete range of subspecialties and distinctive strengths. The department focuses principally on super-minimally invasive digestive endoscopic techniques, the mechanisms and individualized treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, and the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of digestive tract tumors and precancerous lesions. It currently comprises outpatient services, wards, a Digestive Endoscopy Center, and a gastrointestinal motility laboratory, distributed across two hospital campuses, with 2 nursing units, 4 diagnosis and treatment teams, and 64 authorized beds.

As a national standardized residency training base, the department is also an undergraduate internship base and a joint training site for master’s students for institutions including Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, and is qualified to conduct clinical trials of drugs and medical devices approved by the National Medical Products Administration. The department brings together a high-quality and stable clinical diagnosis and treatment team for digestive diseases, with a rationally structured medical and nursing workforce and strong technical capabilities. Featuring the diagnosis and treatment of geriatric digestive diseases, it undertakes the important task of providing diagnosis and treatment for common, difficult, and critical digestive system diseases throughout Zhejiang Province and surrounding provinces and cities. The department maintains close contact with renowned domestic gastroenterology experts, continuously introduces new technologies and projects, and is fully equipped with professional devices, including a series of gastroscopes and colonoscopes, endoscopic ultrasonography, double-balloon enteroscopy, and the HybridKnife system. Diagnostic and treatment techniques for common, difficult, and critical digestive system diseases, as well as mainstream digestive endoscopic diagnostic and treatment techniques in China, are now routinely and maturely performed. Routine procedures include: endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and related treatments (peroral cholangioscopy, endoscopic treatment of pancreaticobiliary duct stones, stent placement for benign and malignant pancreaticobiliary duct strictures, etc.); endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding (esophagogastric variceal embolization, sclerotherapy, and ligation—ESVD); endoscopic ultrasonography and EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration/biopsy and treatment (EUS-FNA/B); endoscopic resection of early digestive tract cancer (EMR/ESD); endoscopic full-thickness or submucosal tunnel resection of gastrointestinal submucosal tumors (ESE/STER); endoscopic treatment of achalasia of the cardia (POEM); endoscopic tube placement, dilation, and stent placement; endoscopic percutaneous gastrostomy/jejunostomy (PEG/J); endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy (ERAT); endoscopic band ligation for internal hemorrhoids, Helicobacter pylori testing and culture, esophageal manometry, 24-hour pH monitoring, anorectal manometry, and biofeedback therapy, among others.