Department of Neurology

The Department of Neurology of the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China was established in 1989is one of the earliest specialized departments of neurology in southern Hunan. It obtained the qualification for enrolling postgraduates majoring in neurology in 2004; in 2013, it became a national base for stroke screeningprevention; in 2015, it was selected as a key clinical development specialty in Hunan Province; in 2017, it became a national advanced stroke center; in 2018, it gained the qualification for enrolling doctoral students; in 2020, it was approved as a key clinical specialty in Hunan Provincein the same year, it took the lead in establishingbecame the chairman unit of the Parkinson’sMovement Disorders Alliance in southern Hunan. In 2021, it was approved as the Hunan Provincial Clinical Medical Research Center for “Immune-Related Encephalopathy”. In 2022, it was designated as the “China Parkinson’s Disease Standard Center”, “Hunan Provincial Advanced Parkinson’s Disease Center”,“Postdoctoral Research Station”. In 2023, it was approved as a national key clinical specialty cultivation disciplinethe Hunan Branch of the National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases.

At present, the discipline has four wards: Neurology Ward 1, Ward 2, Ward 3,NICU, with 180 beds. The annual outpatient volume is nearly 90,000 person-times,the annual number of discharged patients is nearly 6,000.

Currently the department has 29 doctors, including six chief physicians, 12 associate chief physicians, two specially-appointed professors,five full-time research PIs. Among them, there are five doctoral supervisors, eight master supervisors, 11 medical doctors (with two studying for doctoral degrees),one postdoctoral fellow. At present, one person serves as a directorone as a youth director of national academic association, one as the chairman of an academic group; one person serves as the chairman of a provincial academic association, two as deputy chairmen of academic groups, two as standing committee members,more than ten as committee members.

The discipline has established five key sub-specialties: cerebrovascular diseases (endovascular interventional treatment, intravenous thrombolysisbridging thrombectomy, minimally invasive treatment of cerebral hemorrhage), neurodegenerative diseases, neuroimmuneinfectious diseases, epilepsysleep disorders,neurocritical care medicine. It also focuses on cultivating 3 sub-specialty directions: neuropsychologydementia, neuromuscular diseases,neurogenetic diseases. It has auxiliary units, consisting of a neuroelectrophysiology room, transcranial Doppler examination room (including bubble test, transcranial microembolus monitoring,supinestanding blood pressure measurement), neuropsychological assessment room (including Parkinsons disease UPDRS rating, NMSS rating, MMSE rating, MoCA rating,olfactory stick test), neurosonography room, botulinum toxin injectiontranscranial magnetic stimulation treatment room. All these units can provide comprehensive medical services for patients with various neurological diseases.

In the past five years, it has secured eight projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), two key research projects under the “14th Five-Year Plan” of the Ministry of ScienceTechnology, 11 projects funded by Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation, two innovation projects funded by Hunan Provincial Department of ScienceTechnology, three major scientific research projects of key clinical specialties in Hunan Province,two “4310” projects of University of South China, with approved research funds exceeding 10 million yuan. It has published more than 100 SCI papers during this period.

Department of Neurosurgery

The Department of Neurosurgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China was established in 1988. It is the largest neurosurgical center in southern Hunan, a national advanced stroke center for stroke, a national standardized training base for surgery (neurosurgery),a developing base for key clinical specialties in Hunan Province. It has developeda clinical discipline with a solid foundation, a sound echelon, reasonable sub-specialty settings, strong overall strength, advanced equipment, integrating medical treatment, teaching,scientific research. The neurosurgery department has 127 beds, including 21 beds in an independent neurosurgical ICU ward. The department carries out diagnosistreatment of all routinedifficult cases in neurosurgery,has achieved no contraindications on the surgical treatment of all central nervous system diseasesintracranial tumors. Its medical technology, equipment,surgical success rate have reached the advanced level in China, with an annual operation volume of more than 2,000 cases, making it the neurosurgical center with the largest operation volume in the southern Hunan region of Hunan Province.

The department has always adhered to the principle of putting talent first, training talent internallyintroducing them externally, building a multi-levelmulti-channel training platform,creating a talent echelon with a reasonable overall structure, high professional level,strong teachingresearch capabilities. At present, the team has more than 90 members, including 22 doctors, among whom four have senior professional titles, five have deputy senior professional titles, three are master supervisors, five have doctoral degrees,thirteen have master’s degrees. Doctors with senior professionaltechnical titles account for 42.8%,those with intermediate professionaltechnical titles account for 47.6%; there are 68 nurses, including one with a master’s degree, 58 with a bachelor’s degree,more than ten key discipline talents.

The department is equipped with first-class medical equipment in China: “precision neurosurgery” surgical instruments, two fluorescence module microscopes, high-speed craniotomy power systems, Mayfield head frames, neuronavigation systems, ultra-clear neuroendoscopes, neurostereotactic systems, cerebrovascular interventional surgery equipment, dynamic electroencephalography, hypothermia systems, intraoperative B-ultrasound, neuroelectrophysiological monitoring, postoperative intracranial pressure monitoring systems, bronchoscopes, etc. It has one Class 100 laminar flow operating room, one hybrid operating room, two neurosurgical interventional operating rooms (shared),one biological sample bank laboratory.

After nearly 10 years of rapid development, the diagnosistreatment of various neurosurgical diseases in the Department of Neurosurgery have become increasingly standardized,neurosurgical operations have developed towards minimally invasiveprecise ones. Minimally invasiveprecise neurosurgery refers to, in the diagnosistreatment of neurosurgical diseases, using operations with minimal trauma to maximize the protectionrecovery of neurological functionssolve the patients’ pain to the greatest extent. Minimally invasiveprecise neurosurgery includes microsurgery, endoscopic neurosurgery, stereotactic neurosurgery, radiosurgery,endovascular neurosurgery, as well as their combined applications, such as endoscope-assisted microsurgery, combined application of neuronavigationkeyhole approach, combined treatment of cerebrovascular diseases with stereotactic radiotherapyendovascular neurosurgery, etc. At present, neurosurgical operations can treat diseases with minimal damage to nerve tissue, achieving minimally invasive, functional, intelligent,digital treatment, making the treatment safermore effective, with less surgical traumafaster recovery of patients, which can meet the needs of societypatients to the greatest extent, reflecting the doctors’ benevolence of putting patients first. At the same time, the Department of Neurosurgery continues to promote the diagnosistreatment of difficult diseasestechnological innovation, which has greatly improved the medical qualityservice level,the level of precise surgery has reached a new high, providing protection for the health of the people in the region.

In the past five years, the staff have led over six national-level scientific research projects, 10 projects funded by Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation, two Hunan Provincial Clinical Medical Technology Innovation Guidance Projects, one key clinical research project of University of South China,three projects of the Hunan Provincial Department of ScienceTechnologymunicipaldepartmental levels. It has participated in two projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation of Chinahas trained more than 20 postgraduatesadvanced students in recent years. It has successively published over 50 papers in domesticforeign core journals such as Acta Biochim Biophys Sin, J Cell Physiol, Frontiers in Immunology, Int J Clin Exp Med, Int J Neurosci, and Int Immunopharmacol.

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China has a long history. The hospital established a rehabilitation outpatient department‌ in 1986,set up a rehabilitation ward including a sports therapy room in 2001. After reorganizing the original neurological rehabilitation therapy roomrehabilitation clinic in 2012, it gradually expandedupgraded. Now it has become a modern rehabilitation medical center with comprehensive discipline technologies, a reasonable talent echelon, advanced rehabilitation facilities,integrated medical, teaching,research, covering rehabilitation clinics, rehabilitation treatment areas, rehabilitation wards,rehabilitation medicine laboratories. The rehabilitation clinicrehabilitation treatment area cover an area of more than 2,000 square meters,the rehabilitation ward covers more than 2,600 square meters. There are two rehabilitation wards with a total of 80 beds,more than 200 rehabilitation facilitiesequipment with a total value of more than 15 million yuan.   

At present, the discipline is the only discipline unit in the province with a full-level talent training system covering undergraduate, master, doctoral,postdoctoral programs; a developing unit of key clinical specialties in Hunan Province,a national key specialty cultivation discipline of University of South China; a standardized training base for orthopedic rehabilitation technology of the Chinese Medical Association of Physical MedicineRehabilitation, a standardized training base for severe rehabilitation technology of the Chinese Medical Association of Physical MedicineRehabilitation, a continuing educationtraining base of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, a pain rehabilitation specialist training base of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, a hand function rehabilitation specialist training base of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, a special training base for brain function detectionregulation rehabilitation technology of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, an off-campus clinical teaching construction base for orthopedic specialist nurses of the Chinese Nursing Association, a construction discipline of key clinical specialties in Hunan Province, a vice-chairman unit of the Hunan Provincial Rehabilitation Medicine Association, a training base for scarce rehabilitation medicine talents in Hunan Province, a chairman unit of the Rehabilitation Medicine Education Professional Committee of the Hunan Provincial Rehabilitation Medicine Association, a chairman unit of the Pain Rehabilitation Professional Committee of the Hunan Provincial Rehabilitation Medicine Association, a chairman unit of the Physical MedicineRehabilitation Professional Committee of the Hengyang Medical Association,a chairman unit of the Rehabilitation Nursing Professional Committee of the Hengyang Nursing Association.

The department currently has 67 staff members: including 13 rehabilitation physicians, among whom 6 have doctoral degrees, 7 have senior professional titles, 1 is a doctoral supervisor, 2 are postdoctoral cooperative supervisors, 6 are master supervisors, 1 is an advanced worker in the national health system, 1 is a young backbone talent of high-level health talents in Hunan Province,1 has studied abroad; 40 are neurological physical therapists (NPT), master of physical therapy (MPT), cardiopulmonary physical therapists (CPT), occupational therapists (OT), speech therapists (ST),prosthetist & orthotist (P&O); 14 are rehabilitation nurses (including 6 rehabilitation specialist nurses).

It implements the “one prescription for rehabilitation throughout the hospital” and established the “neurology-rehabilitation” and “orthopedics-rehabilitation” integrated models earlier in China, forming the “First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China Model” featuring earlyultra-early rehabilitation. The intervention timing of ultra-early rehabilitation treatment for stroke (rehabilitation intervention within 24-48 hours) has reached the international advanced level,the coverage rate of early rehabilitation after orthopedic surgery has reached 100%; the research level of high-frequency electrical (ultrashort wave) treatment for acute lung injury is internationally leading; the clinicalbasic research on traditional rehabilitation (acupuncture) for degenerative osteoarthropathy is leading in the province.

In recent years, the department has led eight projects funded by the NSFC, more than 40 provincialministerial scientific research projects, two key projects of University of South China, 20 teaching reform projects,a total of 102 projects at all levels. It has published more than 100 academic papers, including 35 SCI indexed papers (including 4 papers in CAS Zone 1); compiledtranslated 11 rehabilitation medicine works; applied for 5 new patents; its scientific research achievements have been published in international congresses of physical medicinerehabilitation for many timesmade conference reports; at the annual meeting of the Chinese Physical MedicineRehabilitation Society, the number of submissions has ranked among the top 10 in the country for four consecutive years; it has won the third prize of ScienceTechnology of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, the third prize of Hunan Medical ScienceTechnology Award,a second prizea third prize of the Hunan Acupuncture Society ScienceTechnology Award.