The Department of Nuclear Medicine of West China Hospital, SCU, was established in 1958, and was one of the first established professional Nuclear Medicine and Research institute in China. It possesses a complete set of sub-specialties, strong technological and academic strength, well-defined orientation and great comprehensive strength. It has always  the top-rank amongst nuclear medicine in Annual Ranking of Fudan Medical Specialties in China, with sub-specialties of single photon imaging and diagnosis, positron imaging and diagnosis, radionuclide therapy wards, radiopharmaceuticals and fundamental research etc..

Staff and Equipment

The department has a total of 51 full-time employees, including physicians, technicians, nurses, and pharmacists to provide professional medical services. Our department is equipped with advanced molecular imaging equipment with nuclear medicine function , including 1 medical cyclotron, 4 SPECT/CT instruments, 2 PET/CT instruments, 1 PET/MR instrument and 1 Mico PET/CT instrument. 

Medical services

Currently, our department provides more than 30 nuclear medicine special diagnosis and treatment projects in both Wuhou campus and Wenjiang campus. The annual number of patients examined by SPECT/CT exceeds 40,000, ranking number 1 nationwide. The annual number of patients examined by PET/CT and PET/MR also exceeds 7000.

Nuclear medicine specialty clinics are open all year round, with more than 42,000 visits annually. Our department provides distinct therapeutic services in hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer, bone metastases, as well as radionuclide application for cutaneous hemangioma and scars. As the first batch of standard iodine-131 radiotherapy demonstration base in China, with 21 open beds, our department has served over 1,200 cases of differentiated thyroid cancer patients and more than 1,000 cases of hyperthyroidism patients annually.

Education and Training

As a training base for national medical key disciplines--Medical Imaging and Nuclear Medicine professionals, our department is also a demonstrational training base for interns, residents and technicians of nuclear medicine by the Ministry of Health, China. Therefore, we assume the task of providing guidance to PhDs, masters, undergraduates and international students in the teaching and scientific research. Currently, there are 4 doctoral supervisors and 5 master’s supervisors.

Research

As the first established professional clinical nuclear medicine research center in China, our department has always believed in the idea of “nuclear medicine research: from bench to clinical”. Over the years, we have been awarded 34 grants by the “National Natural Science Foundation of China”, 3 grants for “key construction projects of clinical science” by the Ministry of Health, 1 engineering project by the State Scientific and Technological Commission, and more than 20 grants by other national or provincial commissions. The research achievements have received multiple prizes in the National or Provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards over the past years.