Established in 1987 and established with specialized ward in early September of 1995, the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology is one of the youngest specialties of internal medicine in West China Hospital. Through unremitting efforts, 88 specialized beds are currently available and the Department becomes the first discipline to train masters and Ph.ds majoring in rheumatology in Western China. In Fudan University's rankings of China's Best Specialties, the Department has ranked top 10 for 9 consecutive years, and No. 6 in 2019. It also ranked No. 5 at the China’s Hospital Technology Influence Ranking in 2019.
Regional Collaboration Platform for Rheumatism in West China Hospital
In the past decade, West China Hospital of Sichuan University has built the most extensive remote consultation and education system in China. Since December of 2014, the Department has established the “Regional Network Collaboration Platform for Rheumatism” with more than 184 Departments of Rheumatology and Immunology in hospitals of all levels from 34 cities in Yunnan Province, Guizhou Province, Chongqing City, and Sichuan Province. Two terms of "training courses for specialists of rheumatology and Immunology in primary hospitals" are given every year. In December 2018, the Department carried out the "training project of discipline leaders of rheumatology and immunology at county hospitals in Sichuan Province" based on this platform, providing long-term clinical training and assistance to Department of Rheumatology and Immunology in county hospitals. At the same time, large-scale clinical research is carried out on this platform, collecting and exploring the biological information of rheumatism in regions and establishing diagnosis and treatment scheme and clinical paths. This platform is of great importance for the rational allocation of medical resources and for the steady development of Rheumatology and Immunology specialty in community in Sichuan Province.
Clinical Specimen Database and Bioinformatics Database
Relying on the hospital’s scientific research base, the Rheumatology and Immunology Laboratory has been cooperating with Western Medical Center of the United States, Research Center for Rheumatism of University of Erlangen, Nuremberg, Germany, Clinical Medical Research Center of Stanford University, Immunology Research Laboratory of Chinese University of Hong Kong and Department of Rheumatology and Immunology of Taiwan Rongjun General Hospital, collecting samples of patients from western China, and establishing blood, DNA/RNA/cell sample databases, which are shared in the region. Using genome-wide association analysis, proteomics and metabonomics, the Department is exploring biomarkers for clinical classification of rheumatism and early stage of the disease.
Innovative Biotherapy Technology
As the diagnostic and therapeutic center for critical rheumatic diseases in southwestern China, the Department is playing a leading role in the country. In recent years, the Department has developed and expanded innovative biotherapy technology for autoimmune diseases, which plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases. These technologies include "Immunotherapy", "immunoabsorption", "targeted molecule adsorption", "stem cell biotherapy", "pathological immune cells domestication therapy with mesenchymal stem cell" and effectively help the Department standardize the strategies and methods of bio-therapeutic technologies for autoimmune diseases.
Management of Chronic Rheumatism with Integration of Doctors, Nurses and Patients
With the idea of integration of doctors, nurses and patients, the department has set up the first nationwide chronic disease management clinic for patients with rheumatic diseases and held lectures on chronic disease for them since 2013. The Department provides "training courses for specialized nurses of rheumatology" annually. The clinic for chronic disease management has also provided a “contract-type extended medical service package” since 2019, opening up a new channel for the patients’ medical care and management of chronic diseases. The Department has improved the integrated personal medical information system and carried out standardized diagnosis, treatment and nursing via network interaction, making the patient management systematized and standardized and facilitating epidemiological investigation, basic research and clinical observation.
Biotherapy Center for Rheumatism
Focusing on patients with inflammatory arthritis and vasculitis, the Biotherapy Center for Rheumatism provides comfortable and secure environment for standardized infusion of biologics for rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, and facilitates patient education and management of chronic rheumatic diseases. The Center is currently the first and also the largest nationwide biotherapy center for rheumatism. The establishment of the Center has increased efficiency of medical care and reduced adverse events, promoting the application of service mode of "integration of doctors, nurses and patients" in clinical practice. So far, it has received more than 30 visits and held more than 20 biotherapy-related meetings and standardized training courses on biologics, including 4 times of the first nationwide training on biologic therapy for rheumatism and more than 10 times of training courses within Sichuan Province.
Industry-University-Research Cooperation and Multiple Achievements
In the past five years, the Department has devoted to scientific research on "stem cell and microparticle therapy for refractory autoimmune diseases", "role of intestinal flora in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases", "neutrophil in the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases", "multidimensional prevention and control of early rheumatoid arthritis", "pathogenesis of inflammatory myopathy", etc., with the support of more than 20 National Natural Science Foundation projects from government and many provincial and municipal research funds. More than 120 SCI papers were published, some of which were published in high-level journals such as Nat Med, PNAS and Ann Rheum Dis, and 6 patents were authorized.