I. Department Introduction
The department of cardiovascular surgery, affiliated hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, formerly known as the department of cardio-thoracic surgery, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, was founded in 1982 and was one of the earliest cardio-thoracic surgery departments in Sichuan province. In the 1980s, our department performed all kinds of congenital heart disease correction and heart valve replacement in the region independently, and performed coronary artery bypass grafting and artificial blood vessel replacement in the 1990s, and all the technologies were at the leading position in our province. After 40 years of development, our department can perform all kinds of heart and blood vessel operations routinely, with an annual operation volume of nearly 700 at present. It receives a large number of difficult and critical ill patients referred by hospitals in the northeast of Sichuan and neighboring provinces every year. A number of characteristic technologies fill the gaps in the Northeast of Sichuan,and those technologies are in advanced in the province and reached the international level. In particular, the mitral valve repair of rheumatic heart disease and the minimally invasive Sun's procedure through small incision in the upper sternal segment of Stanford type A aortic dissection has reached the advanced level in China, and has achieved homogenization with the famous heart centers in China. In 2022, our department was approved as a key medical specialty construction project in Sichuan province.
Our department has a professional team of high education, high quality, keeping up with the times, and pursuing excellence. There are 11 doctors(including 2 professors, 2 master supervisors, 3 doctors (2 candidates), 7 masters, and 1 returnee from overseas) and 36 nurses (including 2 chief nurses, 2 master supervisors, 10 chief nurses, 1 doctor (candidate) and 1 master) at present. Our department has 46 beds and 12 independent cardiac intensive care beds, and is a high-level academic department with clinical, teaching and scientific research.
II.Medical Equipment
Our departments and intensive care units are currently equipped with the most advanced heart intensive care and treatment equipment such as high definition thoracoscope (STORZ), extracorporeal circulation machines (German STOCKERTSC S5 and MAQUET) HL20), Coronary blood flow meter, blood recovery separator, radio-frequency ablation meter (Medtronic and Atricure), cardiac ultrasound, intra-aortic balloon counterpulsator (IABP), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation meter (ECMO), blood purifier, ventilator, brain oxygen saturation monitor, non-invasive cardiac displacement monitor, high flow oxygen therapy meter, lung resuscitation machine, multifunctional monitor, bedside blood gas analyzer, fiberscope, etc. and provide a safety guarantee for postoperative recovery of patients with heart disease.
III.Scope of Diagnosis and Treatment
1.Valvular heart disease: rheumatic heart disease, degenerative valvular heart disease, infectious endocarditis, congenital valvular heart disease, etc. (including mitral valve stenosis or insufficiency, aortic valve stenosis or insufficiency, tricuspid valve stenosis or insufficiency, multi-valve combined valvular disease, etc.);
2.Ischemic heart disease: coronary heart disease, ventricular aneurysm, ventricular septal perforation after myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease combined with carotid artery stenosis, coronary heart disease combined with valvular disease, etc.
3.Vascular diseases: aortic dissection, thoracic aortic aneurysm, abdominal aortic aneurysm, aortic root aneurysm, etc.
4.Congenital heart disease: ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, complete or partial endocardial cushion defect, patent ductus arteriosus, tetralogy of fallot, pulmonary stenosis, pulmonary atresia, pulmonary venous malformation drainage, congenital coarctation of aorta, aortic sinus tumor, coronary arteriovenous fistula, right ventricular double outlet, left ventricular double outlet, single ventricle, transposition of great arteries, etc.
5.Other diseases: thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, pericardial or cardiac tumors, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, chronic constrictive pericarditis, atrial fibrillation,migraine or cerebral infarction related to patent foramen ovale , cardiac trauma, etc.
IV.Characteristic Operations
Characteristic operations performed in recent years:
1. Repair of rheumatic mitral valve (stenosis or insufficiency);
2. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), transcatheter edge to edge repair of mitral valve repair (TA-TEER, valve-CLAMP), and transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement (TTVR);
3. Thoracoscopic cardiac surgery: thoracoscopic mitral valve repair and replacement, thoracoscopic tricuspid valve repair and replacement, thoracoscopic congenital heart disease correction, thoracoscopic cardiac tumor resection;
4. Thoracoscopic Wolf mini-maze atrial fibrillation radiofrequency ablation;
5. Ultrasound-guided percutaneous or transthoracic occlusion of congenital heart disease (atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus);
6. Closure of patent foramen ovale associated with migraine and cerebral infarction (performed by DSA with local anesthesia, esophageal ultrasound guidance with general anesthesia, transthoracic ultrasound guidance with local anesthesia )
7. Coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG): off-pump CABG and on-pump CABG;
8. Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement with small incision;
9. Minimally invasive Sun's procedure for acute Stanford type A aortic dissection (total aortic arch replacement + stent trunk surgery), minimally invasive Hybrid surgery, thoracic aorta replacement, aortic root replacement (Bentall procedure), valve sparing root reimplantation (David procedure), aortic root repair (Florida Sleeve);
10. Thoracic endovascular aortic repair of Stanford type B and non-A and non-B aortic dissection (such as branch stent technology, Hybrid technology, etc.)
"Health and life depend on each other", all the medical staff in the department of the cardiovascular surgery, affiliated hospital of North Sichuan Medical College will bear in mind –“not forget the original intention, stay true to the mission”, and provide the best quality of diagnosis and treatment for the patients with superb professional technology.