The Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery(GI surgery) of West China Hospital, Sichuan University is a national key discipline, a surgical diagnosis and treatment center of critical and severe digestive disease, and the official site of Chinese College of Laparoscopic Surgeons Training (CCLST). As the director of the Department and Institute of Digestive Surgery of Sichuan University, the dean of CCLST, the vice president of Chinese College of Surgeons(CCS), the Chairman of Chinese Society of Laparoscopic Surgery, and the editor-in-chief of the Textbook of Surgery（national 13th Five-Year Plan textbook), Professor Zhou Zongguang (MD, FACS, FRCS), has been dedicating to promote the development of surgical career, especially in gastrointestinal surgery, pancreatic surgery and minimally invasive surgery. The Deputy Directors of the Department of GI Surgery, Dr. Hu Jiankun (MD, FRCS), Dr. Chen Zhixin, MD, and Dr. Wang Ziqiang (MD,FRCS), Dr. Wu Xiao-ting (MD, FACS), Dr. Cheng Zhong (MD), Dr. Li Li (MD), etc. are all well-known experts in colorectal surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, obesity and weight loss surgery in China, and made outstanding contributions to the field of clinical and translational research. At present, there are 5 doctoral supervisors, 13 senior doctors, 15 faculty and staff, 3 director/deputy director nurses, and 13 supervisor nurses in the department.
As the largest department of GI surgery in single medical center/main campus worldwide, there are 170 beds and more than 6,630 surgical operations annually（anal surgery is not included）in department of GI surgery. Sub-specialties of the Department include upper gastrointestinal (stomach and small intestine) diseases, colorectal diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal fistula and malnutrition, obesity and weight loss surgery, hernia and abdominal wall diseases.
The Department is also the official site of Chinese College of Laparoscopic Surgeons Training (CCLST).
Since the end of the last century, the Department of GI surgery has been running a digestive laboratory, and established the Institute of Digestive Surgery of Sichuan University in 2016, undertaking a number of national major projects, key projects and general projects from the National Health Commission，the Ministry of Science and Technology，and the Natural Science Foundation of China. The team focuses on developing new knowledge to improve treatment quality of digestive diseases. In the meantime, it pays attention to clinical technical innovation. As the first team worldwide surmounted the blind zones and limitations of traditional rectal surgery by innovative laparoscopic approach, it performed laparoscopic anal sphincter preservation surgery, and/or lateral pelvic lymph node dissection for lower rectal cancer, investigated the regional micrometastasis of rectal cancer, and redefined the surgical scope of dissection；meanwhile, it led the first clinical trials（RCT）on “Laparoscopic vs open total mesorectal excision with anal sphincter preservation for low rectal cancer” in the world, and improved clinical efficacy significantly.
In recent years, the team initiated individualized laparoscopic lateral pelvic lymph node dissection for rectal cancer and drafted the first consensus in the world for lateral dissection of rectal cancer. Other innovative techniques of the team include functional extensive resection of local advanced rectal cancer, modified posterior resection of locally recurring cancer, laparoscopic extralevator abdominoperineal excision (ELAPE) without transposition, and small incision rectal cancer resection, clockwise modularized laparoscopic gastric cancer surgery, and extended radical surgery for adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction via transhiatal approach, etc. These techniques enable rectal cancer surgery and gastric cancer surgery to become more functional, minimally invasive, and bloodless. And the clinical efficacy is significantly improved. The Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery maintained the highest operation volume of colorectal cancers in a single medical center worldwide, and kept the highest excellent reviews from different third international parties (Mayo Clinic & Mayo Fdn, United States, and HELIOS Klinikum Berlin, Germany) in overall outcome indicators including complication, five-year survival and local recurrence rate.
National Science and Technology Award of China, 1999.
National Science and Technology Award of China, 2006.
The Department’s innovative achievements and procedures have won the approval of domestic and international experts, 414 articles have been published in Nature Communications, JAMA Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Gut, Autophagy, Cancer Res, Ann Surgery, Clin Cancer Res, Cell Death Dis, Molecular Cancer, Oncology, Endosc, Surg Endosc, Dis Colon & Rectum, etc. Science Citation Indexed journals，with the highest single article frequency citations of 347 times, and a number of textbooks of surgery and book chapters have also been published contributing to both the surgical and basic science fields. The results of the clinical research are cited in EAES (European Association for Endoscopic Surgery) clinical practice guidelines for laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery (2011), JSCCR (Japanese Society for Cancer of the Colon and Rectum) guideline for colorectal cancer treatment (2014), NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) practice guideline for rectal cancer treatment (2019), NCCN Guidelines for the Treatment of Gastric Cancer (2019), ACG (American College of Gastroenterology) guideline: management of acute pancreatitis (2006), EAST (Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma) A practice management guideline (2017) , International Consensus on Surgical Treatment of Pancreatic Necrosis (2005), RAC (Revisited Atlanta Classification) for acute pancreatitis (2008), International Consensus on Treatment of Necrotizing Pancreatitis (2012), and AP-ANP treatment decisions of 14 internationally renowned medical centers including Harvard, Stanford, Heidelberg, etc.. For these achievements, the team has been awarded the National Science and Technology Award of China for twice, the first Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of Sichuan Province for four times, and the National Doctoral Dissertation Award of PR China.
The National Doctoral Dissertation Award, 2007.
