Medical Imaging

The Department of Medical Imaging of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine) originated from the Department of Radiology of Zhejiang Provincial Hangzhou Hospital. Founded in 1946, it is one of the earliest radiology departments established in Zhejiang Province. After years of development, it was officially renamed the Department of Medical Imaging in 2011 and has now become a modern medical imaging department integrating medical care, teaching, and research, with strong overall capabilities.

The department has a well-balanced staffing structure and a well-developed professional hierarchy. It currently has nearly 150 staff members in various categories, including physicians, technologists, nurses, and support personnel; among them are 14 holders of senior professional titles, 48 holders of master’s or doctoral degrees in total, 6 supervisors of master’s students, and 2 supervisors of doctoral students. The team has extensive clinical experience and solid professional expertise.

The department is equipped with advanced equipment covering a comprehensive range of types. Across multiple campuses, it has more than 50 major medical devices, including 3.0T MRI, 1.5T MRI, 256-slice and 320-slice spiral CT scanners, spectral CT, DSA, digital X-ray machines, dental CBCT, and dual-energy X-ray bone densitometers, among others. The department implements refined management and subspecialty-based grouping, with diagnostic subspecialty groups for neuro–head and neck, cardiothoracic, breast, abdominal, and musculoskeletal imaging, as well as technical subspecialty groups for DR, CT, MR, and post-processing. It also has a dedicated engineering and information group. The department performs nearly 500,000 examinations annually, and its overall capabilities rank among the leading departments in the province.

The department undertakes teaching responsibilities for relevant programs at Zhejiang Chinese Medical University and has established a teaching and research section for medical imaging diagnosis, a teaching and research section for medical imaging technology, and a postdoctoral research station. Its academic platforms include a key discipline under Zhejiang Province’s “12th Five-Year Plan,” a first-class discipline under the “13th Five-Year Plan,” and key disciplines in Traditional Chinese Medicine of Zhejiang Province, among others. In 2005, it became the first master’s degree-granting program in Imaging Medicine and Nuclear Medicine among TCM institutions nationwide; in 2011, it began enrolling undergraduates in Clinical Medicine (Medical Imaging track); in 2015, it obtained authorization to enroll doctoral students; in 2017, it established a five-year undergraduate program in Medical Imaging; in 2018, it established an undergraduate program in Medical Imaging Technology; and in 2021, it began enrolling master’s students in Medical Technology (Medical Imaging Technology track). Currently, it trains more than 100 undergraduates and more than ten doctoral students, master’s students, and international students each year.

Technical Advantages

The department’s imaging examination services cover all body regions, including all types of contrast examinations, mammography, dental CT, DR, DSA, routine and various functional CT and MRI examinations, among others. The imaging technology team has extensive experience and excellent technical skills. The diagnostic imaging team has particularly strong subspecialty capabilities and outstanding professional expertise. In recent years, AI-assisted diagnostic systems from multiple brands have been introduced, substantially improving the efficiency and accuracy of analyses of pulmonary nodules, bone age, breast diseases, cerebral perfusion, and various types of vascular imaging. In recent years, multiple advanced devices have also been introduced. The 3.0T MRI enables high-quality imaging ranging from anatomy to function and metabolism, supporting clinical care and scientific research; it also readily enables one-stop examinations of cardiac morphology and function and multiparametric quantitative analysis of the myocardium and tumors; spectral CT makes every scan an energy scan, enabling the organic integration of clinical and research work involving energy CT; and the 256-slice CT with deep-learning image reconstruction enables free-breathing, non-ECG-gated coronary imaging, as well as combined coronary artery–myocardial imaging and low-dose acquisition.

Support for the treatment of emergency and critically ill patients is likewise outstanding. The department has established green channels for imaging examinations related to stroke, chest pain, VTE, and other conditions, enabling examinations to be completed and reports to be issued rapidly. It is also equipped with a research platform for radiomics and deep learning, promoting the deep integration of clinical practice and scientific research and continuously enhancing the discipline’s innovation and service capabilities.

Academic Standing

The department has a prominent academic standing. It is the chairing institution of the Radiology Branch of the Zhejiang Medical Association and the Imaging Specialty Committee of the Chinese Association of Integrative Medicine, and more than 20 of its members hold positions in academic societies at the provincial level or above.

Research Achievements

Over the past five years, the department has undertaken nearly 60 projects at the national, provincial/ministerial, and department levels; it has published more than 200 papers, including more than 100 indexed in SCI, nearly 50 in CAS Zone 2 or above, with a highest impact factor of 27.5.