Medical Oncology

The Department of Oncology of Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine was established in 1969 and is one of the earliest oncology departments established in a general hospital in China. Its service volume has continued to grow, with more than 100,000 outpatient visits annually and more than 8,000 discharges; it has been rated an A-level discipline and an advanced collective in scientific research by the hospital year after year, and has ranked among the top 10 nationwide in academic influence among disciplines (specialties) of hospitals of traditional Chinese medicine for consecutive years. The department currently has four wards with 158 beds. It is authorized to confer master’s and doctoral degrees in Internal Medicine of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Clinical Medicine, and has a postdoctoral mobile station in Internal Medicine of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has six provincial Famous TCM Physician Studios. It currently has 41 members, including 4 doctoral supervisors, 11 master’s supervisors, and 8 senior-title professionals. It is a team that includes 3 mentors for the academic-experience inheritance of national senior TCM experts, 6 provincial famous TCM physicians, 2 nationally outstanding TCM clinical training professionals, 5 provincial young and mid-career famous physicians, 1 young TCM clinical talent under the China Association of Chinese Medicine’s “Eaglet Program,” 1 provincial health innovation talent, and 5 provincial medical rising stars.

Technical Advantages

The discipline adheres to the purpose of “improving overall therapeutic efficacy and enhancing patients’ experience of receiving medical care,” optimizes the whole-course management model for integrated TCM and Western medicine in oncology, and promotes treatments featuring the characteristics and strengths of TCM. It has now established five clearly defined and stable research directions: (1) clinical and basic research on overcoming EGFR-TKI resistance in lung adenocarcinoma with TCM; (2) clinical and basic research on treating skin and mucosal toxicity caused by precision antitumor drugs with external TCM therapies; (3) clinical and basic research on TCM maintenance therapy for colorectal cancer; (4) minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of tumors; and (5) research on the characteristics of TCM thinking and common patterns in the TCM treatment of malignant tumors by renowned TCM physicians. It innovatively proposed the construction of a TCM diagnosis-and-treatment system for skin and mucosal toxicity caused by antitumor drugs, centered on “heat toxin” as the core pathogenesis, and established the country’s first biobank of biological samples from patients with skin and mucosal toxicity; improved and optimized the whole-course integrated TCM and Western medicine management system for non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer; and is one of the earliest specialty departments in Zhejiang Province to perform lung and liver needle biopsy procedures.

Academic Standing

It was a key specialty under the 10th through 12th Five-Year Plans of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a key discipline under the 12th Five-Year Plan, and the deputy-leading institution of the lung cancer and pancreatic cancer collaboration groups of the National Oncology Collaboration Group; a key discipline of TCM in Zhejiang Province, a provincial TCM science and technology innovation platform, and the host institution of the director of the Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Oncology at Zhejiang Chinese Medical University. It is the affiliated institution of the deputy chairpersons of the Oncology Branch of the China Association of Chinese Medicine, the Specialty Committee on Integrated TCM and Western Medicine for Lung Cancer of the China Anti-Cancer Association, and the Specialty Committee on Tumor Drug Research of the China Association of Chinese Materia Medica; the affiliated institution of the vice president of the Specialty Committee on Cancer Palliative Care Research of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies; the host institution of the chairperson of the TCM Oncology Professional Committee of the Zhejiang Anti-Cancer Association; the deputy-leading institution of the Zhejiang Provincial Alliance of TCM Advantage Specialties; and one of Zhejiang’s first provincial “small but strong” clinical innovation teams.

Research Achievements

In the field of comprehensive integrated TCM and Western medicine treatment of malignant tumors, the department has conducted extensive and in-depth practice and research and achieved a number of innovative results. It has undertaken 1 project under the 11th Five-Year Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology, 1 project under the Zhejiang Major Science and Technology Special Program—the “Vanguard” and “Leading Goose” R&D Breakthrough Program, 1 major project of the Provincial Department of Science and Technology, 21 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 1 National Public Welfare Industry Research Special Project, 2 projects under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine–provincial co-construction science and technology program, and 12 key and general projects of the Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, among others. The discipline successfully developed Kanglaite Injection, a Class II novel anticancer drug at an internationally leading level, and received the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the National Invention Award, and the First Prize of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It subsequently developed hospital preparations including Anti You Granules, Yangyin Jiedu Formula, Shouzu Ning, Piyan Ning, Kouyan Ning, and Jiedu Sangen Decoction. In recent years, it has received 3 third prizes of the Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award and more than 10 first, second, and third prizes of the Provincial TCM Science and Technology Progress Awards; 4 national invention patents have been approved, 1 has been commercialized; and it has published more than 80 SCI papers as corresponding or first author, including 16 Q2 TOP papers, as well as more than 10 papers in Chinese Excellent Journals.