Founded by Professor Luo Decheng, the Department of Cardiology of West China Hospital, SCU, has gradually developed into a national key clinical specialty, a diagnosis and treatment center for complicated and critical cardiovascular diseases in the Western China, and a quality control center for cardiovascular diseases in Sichuan Province. It is the only training base for interventional diagnosis and treatment of coronary heart disease, arrhythmia and congenital heart disease in Sichuan Province accredited by the National Health Commission.
The Department has 57 doctors, 134 nurses and 14 technicians, including 20 with senior professional titles, 16 with associate senior professional titles, as well as 9 Ph.D. tutors and 4 master tutors. It consists of 3 medical and nursing units (No.16 nursing unit, No.14 nursing unit and No.2 nursing unit), 2 interventional catheterization labs (9 interventional operating rooms in total), and 2 auxiliary examination units (echocardiography room and noninvasive ECG examination room). It has 8 sub-specialty groups, including coronary heart disease, congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, electrophysiology, heart failure and device treatment, hypertension, cardiac critical care and noninvasive heart examination.
In order to enhance the timely treatment of cardiovascular emergencies (such as acute myocardial infarction, etc.), the Department has established Chest Pain Center, Hypertension Center, Atrial-fibrillation Center, Heart Failure Center, etc., and insisted on implementation of the two-way referral cooperation between hospitals and the 24-hour green channel for critical and severe cardiac emergencies, to ensure that the transferred critical patients can receive efficient and high-quality medical services.
As a component of West China Hospital, SCU, a teaching hospital, the Department undertakes a lot of teaching work for undergraduates, postgraduates, residents and refresher doctors. It offers 1,500 teaching hours for undergraduates and more than 120 lectures, teaching rounds, discussions on difficult medical records and conducts operation training for undergraduates, postgraduates, residents and refresher doctors.
As a national key clinical specialty and the diagnosis and treatment center of complicated and critical cardiovascular diseases in Western China, through active academic activities and exchanges, the Department has promoted the development of diagnosis and treatment, intervention technology and scientific research of cardiovascular diseases in Southwest China. It has made domestic leading and internationally influential achievements in the development of some sub-specialties. The number of cases and therapeutic effect of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation (TPVI) are among the best in China.
In terms of scientific research in the past five years, the Department has obtained a total of 18 projects under National High-tech Research and Development Programs (863), Sci-tech Support Programs, National Natural Science Foundation, Key Research and Development Projects of the Ministry of Sci-tech, 49 provincial and ministerial projects, with a total funding of about 25 million yuan. 244 SCI papers are published by the Department as the first author or corresponding author, with the highest impact factor of 23.425and the cumulative impact factor of 279.091; Another 232 papers are published in journals from Chinese statistical sources. The Department has won 1 second prize of Chinese Medical Sci-tech Progress, 2 third prizes of Chinese Sci-tech Award, 3 Provincial and Municipal Sci-tech Progress Awards, has edited 7 monographs as chief editor and deputy chief editor, and has compiled 24 monographs.
