Department of Cardiology

Founded in 1975, the Department of Cardiology at the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China has developedone of the top cardiovascular departments in Hunan Province through the efforts of multiple generations. It is a designated institution under the “National Program for Enhancing the DiagnosisTreatment Capacity of Complex Cardiovascular Diseases,” a construction unit of the “National Regional Medical Center for Cardiovascular Diseases,”holds multiple nationalregional designations, including: “National Heart Failure Center” “National Chest Pain Center” “China Atrial Fibrillation Center” “Vice Chair Unit of the Cardiovascular Disease PreventionRehabilitation Committee of the Chinese Cardiovascular Association” “National Training Base for Coronary Intervention under the Cardiovascular Disease Interventional Therapy Program of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association” “Hunan Provincial Center for the Heart Failure Medical Consortium” “Hunan Provincial Clinical Research Center for Myocardial Injury” “Hunan Cardiovascular Targeted Drug Collaborative Innovation Center” “Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Multi-OmicsArtificial Intelligence in Cardiac Diseases” “Hengyang Center for Hypertension Specialty Care Consortium” “Hengyang Cardiovascular Intervention Quality Control Center,”designated provincial clinical key specialty by the Health Commission of Hunan Province. The department also led the establishment of the “Heart Failure Subcommittee”the “Cardiac Rehabilitation Subcommittee” under the Hengyang Cardiovascular Societyserves as the leading unit. With support from the Translational Innovation Alliance of the University of South China, a “DifficultCritical Cardiovascular Disease Medical Consortium” has been established.

The department consists of 139 personnel, including physicians, nurses, technicians,full-time researchers. Among them are five chief physicians, seven with senior professional titles, 21 with associate senior titles, 16 at intermediate level,10 junior physicians. A total of 28 are under age 40, accounting for 57.1%. The team includes three doctoral supervisors, 14 master’s supervisors, three postdoctoral researchers, 25 physicians holding doctoral degrees,1 currently pursuing a doctorate full-time. The proportion of physicians with master’sdoctoral degrees is 95.9%.

The nursing team comprises 81 nurses, along with two techniciansfour dedicated researchers. The department includes three general wards, one cardiovascular intensive care unit, one cardiac rehabilitation center, one cardiovascular intervention center, one cardiovascular imaging center,one cardiovascular research institute, totaling eight units with 187 authorized beds. The department sees nearly 100,000 outpatient visits, admits over 9,400 inpatients annually,performs over 7,000 interventional procedures per year.

Department of ThoracicCardiovascular Surgery 

The origin of Department of ThoracicCardiovascular Surgery at the hospital can be traced back to 1958 with lobectomy procedures for pulmonary tuberculosisto 1976 with closed mitral commissurotomy for rheumatic heart disease. In 1980, the Department of ThoracicCardiac Surgery was formally established,it was expandedthe Department of ThoracicCardiovascular Surgery in 2010. The first open-heart procedure with cardiopulmonary bypass was performed in 1982. After more than 40 years of continuous development, the department now leads the southern-central Hunan region in terms of clinical volume, personnel structure, surgical expertise, inpatient facilities,equipment.

Currently, the department is a key participant in the National Program for Enhancing the DiagnosisTreatment of Complex Cardiovascular Diseasesa critical component in the construction of the National Regional Medical Center for Cardiovascular Diseases. It is a Hunan Provincial Clinical Key Specialty, Vice Chair Unit of the ThoracicCardiovascular Surgery Committee of the Hunan Medical Association,Chair Organization of the corresponding committee in Hengyang. The department is an accredited standardized residency training base approved by the National Health Commission, a master’s degree conferring unit under the University of South China, sub-center of the China Lung Cancer PreventionTreatment Alliance for the diagnosistreatment of pulmonary nodules in Hengyang, a model city-level center for standardized diagnosistreatment of lung cancer in Hunan, an ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) demonstration ward, a member of the Hunan Province Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer DiagnosisTreatment Alliance, the hosting institution for the Hengyang Thoracic Surgery Quality Control Center, a member of the Lung Tumor Early ScreeningTubeless Minimally Invasive Surgery Alliance, a comprehensive demonstration hospital under the China Bleeding Control Center Alliance, a council member unit of the China Bleeding Control Center Alliancea standing committee unit of the Hunan VTE PreventionTreatment Alliance. The department integrates clinical services, teaching,research as a comprehensive discipline.

It currently has 24 physicians, including five chief physicians, three associate chief physicians,12 attending physicians. Among them, 10 hold doctoral degreesfive are master’s supervisors. The nursing team consists of 60 members. Five staff members have received advanced training at top international institutions such as the Mayo Clinic in the United Statesthe Berlin Heart Center in Germany. More than 20 have pursued further study at premier domestic centers such as Fuwai Hospital, Anzhen Hospital,Shanghai Chest Hospital. Advanced techniques in cardiovascular surgery include: surgicalinterventional treatment of acute aortic dissection, minimally invasive cardiac surgery under thoracoscopy with cardiopulmonary bypass, coronary artery bypass grafting, total thoracoabdominal aortic replacementtranscatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Advanced techniques in general thoracic surgery include: thoracoscopic minimally invasive surgeries for lungesophageal diseases, thoracoscopic surgery under spontaneous breathing anesthesia, CT-guided percutaneous localization of pulmonary nodules, preoperative 3D reconstruction, intraoperative fluorescence navigation, da Vinci robot-assisted pulmonarymediastinal tumor resection, neoadjuvant therapy combined with surgery for thoracic malignanciestumor ablation procedures in the thorax.