The Department of Thyroid Surgery is one of the largest diagnostic and treatmental center of thyroid surgical diseases in China, which serves nearly 40,000 outpatients and more than 3,000 inpatients of thyroid diseases patients national widely in every year, including complicated cases with the complete treatment system. By partnering with several other Departments in setting up disease coordination centers, it could provide varied solutions to different diseases. The department is in the leading position in China, especially in the comprehensive treatment of advanced thyroid cancer, the treatment of secondary/tertiary hyperparathyroidism, the ablation of thyroid nodules, the endoscopic treatment of thyroid gland, and the postoperative follow-up. The department has formed a complete treatment system in the field.
At present, the Department has 61 medical staff, including 22 surgeons in which 9 with senior title (3 professors and 6 associate professors), 9 with mid-level title (attending doctors), 1 doctoral tutor and 7 master tutors, and 39 nursing practitioners, in which 1 with senior title, 5 nurses-in-charge, 29 senior nurses and 4 nurses. 97% of the staff have undergraduate education (4 postgraduates, 33 undergraduates), and 2 full-time scientific researchers.
The Department is at the advanced level both at home and abroad in the following areas:
1. Surgical treatment of advanced thyroid cancer. In this field, the Department has an excellent reputation in precise diagnosis and surgical treatment of complicated and challenging thyroid and parathyroid diseases. It treats more than 20% of patients with recurrent and challenging thyroid surgery nationwide every year. In recent years, it has strengthened the cooperation with thoracic surgery, otolaryngology, vascular surgery, burn surgery., which has unique features for vascular reconstruction, flap repair, and laryngeal reconstruction of challenging and complex thyroid cancer. Recently, professor Zhihui Li’s team completed the resection of two cases of advanced thyroid cancer with large tumor thromboembolus in the left internal jugular vein, the left brachial vein, and the superior vena cava. It was the first operation in China and is currently one of the centers in the world that perform such operations.
2. Protection of parathyroid function. On the basis of the globally initiative "nano-carbon negative contrasting parathyroid gland to identify and protect " proposed by Professor Jingqiang Zhu, the Department initiated the "Huaxi Zhu’s classification of Parathyroid ", which has been highly accepted in the field. This proposal initiatively promotes the protection of parathyroid function in thyroid surgeries, regarded as a milestone in the progress of normalizing thyroid surgeries in China. Authorized by the Specialized Committee on Thyroid Surgeons in the Surgeon Society under the Chinese College of Surgeons, the Department compiled in 2015 and then published the Expert Consensus on Parathyroid Protection in Thyroid Surgeries, which is the first of its kind across the world, in both Chinese and English version.
3. MDT Treatment for hyperparathyroidism. Our department established the MDT team with the departments of endocrinology, nephrology medicine, nuclear medicine, and other disciplines. The MDT team developed the diagnosis and treatment plan for patients from a multidisciplinary perspective, with a definite therapeutic effect and a low complication rate and recurrence rate. Especially in the treatment of secondary/tertiary hyperparathyroidism, this model was unanimously recognized by domestic experts, and the author wrote the expert consensus on hyperparathyroidism.
4.Endoscopic treatment of thyroid. Endoscopic thyroid surgery can achieve the same effect as open surgery, and at the same time, it has its unique advantages such as no scar on the neck, fast recovery, and excellent cosmetic effect. Our department is one of the first centers in Sichuan province to carry out endoscopic thyroid surgery, and a standard treatment system has been established.
5.Ablation of thyroid nodules. Ablative treatment of thyroid nodules is an important supplement to surgical treatment. Our department is committed to the promotion of standard ablative treatment of benign nodule, and has participated in several special training courses of ablative treatment, and proposed the ablation indications of West China Hospital, which has been recognized by domestic experts.
6.Postoperative follow-up for thyroid cancer. Postoperative follow-up of thyroid cancer is a feature of the clinical work of our department. Integrated management of medical care has been carried out, and the medical staff has jointly carried out the outpatient department of specialized follow-up visits. At the same time, a professional follow-up database has been established.
The Department was supported by three national scientific research projects, more than 20 provincial or ministerial projects, and one national multi-center research project (as the leader institute) with over 10 million RMB funding. Authored nearly 100 papers, including more than 50 SCI papers and more than ten high impacted SCI papers (IF > 5).
We take care and service as our medical purpose, and constantly strive for excellence, relieve pain and bring health to more patients.
