Neurosurgery

The Department of Neurosurgery of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Xiamen University was the earliest independently established neurosurgery department in Xiamen and was among the first group of key disciplines in Xiamen. It is currently a Fujian Provincial Clinical Key Specialty, a National Health Commission Advanced Stroke Center, a National Health Commission Stroke Screening, Prevention and Treatment Base, a National Health Commission “Pilot” Neurosurgery Training Base, a Chinese Medical Doctor Association Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery Technology Training Center, a Chinese Medical Doctor Association Neuroendoscopy Physician Training Base, a council member institution of the Brain Glioma MDT Specialty Alliance of the National Center for Neurological Disorders, a National Grade II Epilepsy Center, a national standardized residency training base, a national drug clinical trial base, the chairperson institution of the Neurosurgery Branch of the Xiamen Medical Association, the Xiamen Clinical Medical Research Center for Cerebrovascular Diseases, the Xiamen advantageous subspecialty of neurovascular intervention, the Xiamen Stroke Quality Control Center, a Neurosurgery Construction Center institution of the Capital Medical University Xuanwu Hospital Alliance, a committee-member institution of the Chinese Pituitary Adenoma Collaboration Group, a member institution of the Chinese Brain Glioma Collaboration Group, a member institution of the Chinese Cranial Nerve Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Collaboration Group, a research project institution of the Chinese Intracranial Aneurysm Study, a member institution of the Fujian Branch Center of the Chinese Neuromodulation Alliance, and a co-construction institution for spinal cord and spinal surgery of the Neurosurgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association. It is also a participating institution in major national projects including the 12th Five-Year Plan project “Study on the Timing and Optimization of Strategies for Minimally Invasive Treatment of Cerebral Aneurysms” and the 13th Five-Year Plan project “Study on Early Standardized Treatment of Ruptured Intracranial Aneurysms and the Risk of Hemorrhage from Unruptured Aneurysms.” All medical indicators have ranked first among institutions in the same field in Xiamen for several consecutive years, and its workload ranks among the highest in Fujian Province. It has gradually developed seven subspecialties: cerebrovascular diseases, endoscopic skull base surgery, neuro-oncology, stereotactic and functional neurosurgery (including Gamma Knife), pediatric neurosurgery, neurospinal and spinal cord surgery, and neurocritical care and trauma. In addition, it is equipped with the only dedicated head Gamma Knife treatment unit in southwestern Fujian and has an independent neurosurgery laboratory. The Department of Neurosurgery targets and adapts to international development trends and has an outstanding academic team of highly qualified and highly educated professionals with a balanced combination of senior, middle-aged, and young members. The department currently has more than 60 medical and nursing staff, including 20 physicians, 1 doctoral student/postdoctoral supervisor, 5 master’s student supervisors, 7 chief physicians and professors, and 5 associate chief physicians and associate professors; among the physicians, 10 hold doctoral degrees and 9 hold master’s degrees, and many have studied overseas. Several department members hold academic positions in relevant branches of the Chinese Medical Association, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, and other national or provincial medical associations. They are energetic, united and collaborative, adept at reform, and courageous in innovation, and have been among the first in and outside the province to launch a number of new services and technologies. After more than 30 years of development, the Department of Neurosurgery of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Xiamen University has continued to expand and innovate its services. The department currently carries out the following work: (1) As a collaborating institution of the Chinese Neurosurgical Brain Glioma Collaboration Group, the department implements individualized surgical treatment plans involving maximal safe tumor resection under neuronavigation monitoring; it carries out molecular genetic testing and individualized comprehensive treatment of brain gliomas, effectively increasing postoperative survival time in patients with glioma. (2) It performs intraoperative awake anesthesia techniques and uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to localize functional areas of the cerebral cortex, thereby increasing the resection rate of intracranial tumor lesions and avoiding neurological functional injury. Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring is widely used for brain and spinal cord tumors, cerebrovascular diseases, and functional neurosurgery, and has notably reduced the incidence of facial paralysis after acoustic neuroma surgery. (3) As a cerebrovascular disease treatment center in southwestern Fujian, the Department of Neurosurgery of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Xiamen University performs several hundred cerebrovascular disease operations and interventional procedures every year. In addition to conventional cerebral aneurysm clipping, it uses intraoperative microscopic cerebral vascular fluorescence angiography to accurately assess cerebrovascular lesions and performs cerebral revascularization to treat giant aneurysms. It performs surgery for ischemic cerebrovascular diseases, including carotid endarterectomy, stent implantation for carotid and intracranial artery stenosis, and cerebral bypass surgery for moyamoya disease. Neurointerventional treatment is a leading technology of the department; over more than 30 years since its establishment, the volume of neurointerventional treatment has increased year by year. The department can currently perform cerebral and spinal cord angiography and endovascular interventional treatment of intracranial aneurysms, cerebrovascular malformations, and intracranial arteriovenous fistulas, all with satisfactory outcomes. (4) In clinical work, various skull base approaches are used to treat skull base tumors. The department has successfully resected giant tumors communicating between the intracranial and extracranial compartments, brainstem tumors, and complex skull base tumors in the petroclival region and foramen magnum region; its cranial nerve preservation rate has reached an advanced level in China. (5) Neuroendoscopic surgery is a distinctive technology of the department. Endoscopic surgery is characterized by minimal trauma and rapid recovery. In recent years, neuroendoscopy has been used each year to treat several hundred sellar-region tumors, including pituitary tumors, craniopharyngiomas, and anterior cranial fossa meningiomas. The department was the first in the province to perform neuroendoscopic microvascular decompression surgery, and ventriculoscopy-guided biopsy of intraventricular tumors and third ventriculostomy have achieved good results. (6) The greatest advantages of Gamma Knife radiotherapy are safety, little patient discomfort, and no trauma. In recent years, the department has used head Gamma Knife treatment for cerebral hemisphere and cerebellar tumors, trigeminal neuralgia, and cerebrovascular malformations, with satisfactory therapeutic results and improved quality of life for patients. (7) Neurosurgical critical care has gradually reached substantial scale. The department receives critically ill patients transferred from hospitals in various areas of southwestern Fujian. Intracranial pressure monitoring provides real-time intracranial pressure measurement for severe craniocerebral trauma, greatly improving the treatment success rate for severe craniocerebral trauma. (8) Pediatric neurosurgery performs surgery for congenital diseases, including congenital hydrocephalus and tethered cord syndrome; resection surgery for medulloblastoma and craniopharyngioma in children extends the 5-year survival rate of affected children. (9) Spinal and spinal cord surgery includes decompression and internal fixation after acute spinal injury. Spinal cord tumor surgery includes surgery for intraspinal tumors and even for complex intra- and extraspinal nerve sheath tumors. The Department of Neurosurgery possesses the most advanced medical equipment currently available internationally, including the most advanced German Brainlab neuronavigation system, a ZEISS K900 fluorescence surgical microscope, a STORZ high-definition neuroendoscope, a Siemens high-field MR system, a Siemens spiral CT scanner, a Siemens dual-tube digital subtraction angiography system, an ECT machine, STORZ microsurgical instruments, a Mayfield surgical head holder and automatic brain retractor, a multifunctional neurosurgical operating table, an American Medtronic high-speed pneumatic drill, an intraoperative B-ultrasound machine, a dual-level electrocoagulation system, a wireless Bluetooth electroencephalograph, a system for video recording, editing, and burning throughout the entire operation, a fully functional physiological monitoring system, and a spiral rotating Gamma Knife treatment unit. In addition, it possesses a range of advanced instruments and equipment for basic research, such as a CO2 incubator, constant-temperature water bath, PCR instrument, ultra-low-temperature freezer, clean bench, biological microscope and fluorescence inverted microscope, pathological analysis and image-text processing systems, and instruments and equipment for molecular biology research. The Department of Neurosurgery completes more than 1,000 operations of various types every year. The operations cover all kinds of craniocerebral trauma, intracranial tumors, cerebrovascular diseases, spinal cord tumors, and functional neurosurgical diseases. They include high-difficulty microsurgeries for meningiomas involving the sagittal sinus, medial sphenoid ridge meningiomas, tuberculum sellae meningiomas, pituitary tumors, craniopharyngiomas, acoustic schwannomas, dumbbell-shaped trigeminal schwannomas, petroclival meningiomas, arteriovenous malformations, cerebral aneurysms, brainstem tumors, and intramedullary tumors, as well as interventional treatment of complex cerebrovascular diseases. Some cases that could not be resolved or were only partially resolved at other institutions have recovered after reoperation in the department. Surgical outcomes have all been confirmed by follow-up CT or MRI examinations; prognosis and quality of life are good and have reached an advanced level domestically and internationally. The Department of Neurosurgery ensures treatment outcomes for patients through equipment and management based on an internationally first-class model. All medical and nursing personnel are rigorous and pragmatic, pursue excellence, forge ahead, and have the courage to innovate; clinical care, teaching, and research are all at the forefront of this discipline. In recent years, department medical and nursing members have received approval for 3 National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, ranking first in neurosurgery in southwestern Fujian; they have participated in multiple national projects and prospective clinical trial studies, and have cumulatively received approval for more than 30 provincial and municipal projects. In recent years, more than 70 papers have been published in various authoritative domestic and international journals, including more than 30 SCI papers; the department has also served as chief editor or contributing editor for more than 10 neurosurgical monographs and contributed to more than 20 consensus guidelines on various neurological diseases. The entire department keeps pace with global trends and works diligently and selflessly. Its staff not only have high professional ethics but also comprehensive technical capabilities, attracting patients from within and outside the province and from Southeast Asia, and contributing to the development of neurosurgery in China and the region. All medical and nursing personnel of the Department of Neurosurgery will continue to work hard, taking “first-class technology, first-class equipment, and first-class service” as their guiding principle and providing patients with leading-level, comprehensive medical services through strong overall capabilities. Ward locations: 16th floor, Building 1 (Neurosurgery Ward 1); 17th floor, Building 1 (Neurosurgery Ward 2, Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit). Department telephone numbers: Neurosurgery Ward 1 Nursing Station 2993162; Doctors’ Office 2993161; Neurosurgery Ward 2 Nursing Station 2993172; Doctors’ Office 2993171.