Chest Tightness, Chest Pain, Palpitations, Shortness of Breath… How to Safeguard "Heart" Health? This Professional Team Innovates Continuously with Proven Strategies for Cardiac Diseases

If the human body is compared to a car, the heart is the engine. When the heart malfunctions, symptoms such as chest tightness, chest pain, palpitations, dizziness, and fatigue may occur; in severe cases, sudden cardiac arrest can happen, endangering life.

How to protect cardiovascular health? Led by Professor Fu Guosheng, academic leader and department director, the Department of Cardiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine (hereinafter referred to as "Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital Cardiology Department") is committed to rescuing patients with high-risk, difficult, and complex cardiovascular diseases. Guided by internationally advanced diagnosis and treatment concepts, the department strives tirelessly to climb new heights in medicine.

From only 7 doctors at its establishment to a professional team of nearly 100 today, the department has developed into a key discipline with a complete academic system and strong technical strength. It has established a comprehensive diagnosis and treatment system covering four subspecialties: coronary intervention, cardiac electrophysiology, cardiac pacing, and structural heart disease. Equipped with an internationally advanced cardiovascular interventional catheterization laboratory and a first-class scientific research platform, the department is dedicated to providing high-quality medical services for patients.

In 2024, the department’s outpatient volume reached nearly 260,000 person-times, and the number of hospitalized patients exceeded 25,300. For years, it has ranked among the top in Zhejiang Province in core medical indicators such as annual surgical volume, number of discharged patients, and average length of hospital stay.

"Currently, our team is capable of performing almost all the world’s most advanced cardiovascular interventional diagnosis and treatment technologies, striving to provide comprehensive treatment guarantees for patients with various high-risk, difficult, and complex cardiovascular diseases," said Fu Guosheng.

Focus on Precise Coronary Intervention Therapy

Advanced Diagnosis and Treatment Level for High-Risk and Difficult Cases, on Par with International Standards

The Department of Cardiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital is one of the first in China and the earliest in Zhejiang Province to carry out transradial coronary intervention therapy.

Coronary intervention technology has always been the "golden business card" of the department. In 2024, the department admitted over 15,000 hospitalized patients with coronary heart disease, accounting for 60% of the annual hospitalization volume, and successfully performed more than 9,300 coronary intervention procedures.

"Our patients have a distinctive feature—high proportion of high-risk, difficult, and complex vascular lesions, many of whom are 'tough cases' transferred from grassroots hospitals," Fu Guosheng noted.

Just last week, Mr. Lin, in his 50s, was admitted to a local hospital due to sudden acute myocardial infarction. Examinations revealed severe stenosis of his left anterior descending artery and complete occlusion of the right coronary artery. During the surgical treatment, it was found that his cardiac blood vessels were severely calcified and tortuous, making it impossible for treatment instruments to reach the lesion site smoothly for revascularization. In an emergency, local doctors contacted Fu Guosheng, and Mr. Lin was transferred to the Department of Cardiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital via 120 emergency services.

Mr. Lin’s condition was classified as chronic total occlusion (CTO) of coronary arteries, which is extremely difficult to treat. After careful analysis, Fu Guosheng’s team formulated a personalized treatment plan: staged management of the dual-vessel lesion. First, revascularization of the left anterior descending artery was performed, and the stenotic lesion was successfully dilated with a drug-eluting balloon. One month later, the occluded right coronary artery was opened, achieving complete revascularization of the cardiac blood vessels.

With the rising incidence of coronary heart disease, complex and critical cases like Mr. Lin’s are increasing. "Especially for patients with CTO, vascular calcification is often as hard as stone, making revascularization extremely challenging," Fu Guosheng explained. For such cases, the team has established a complete diagnosis and treatment system integrating advanced technologies such as coronary rotational atherectomy and shock wave therapy, reaching international advanced levels in technical capabilities, treatment strategies, and clinical concepts.

"Vascular lesions vary in complexity," Fu Guosheng emphasized. "Our catheterization laboratory is equipped with full-size rotational atherectomy burrs, allowing precise selection of instruments based on blood vessel size and calcification degree. For patients with circumferential vascular calcification that cannot be dilated, we innovatively adopt a combined treatment plan of rotational atherectomy and shock wave therapy. Successfully treating such complex lesions requires indispensable equipment, technology, and doctor’s experience, as well as a complete system support."

In addition to CTO, acute myocardial infarction caused by left main coronary artery occlusion is an even greater test for medical teams. Clinically, the management of such lesions requires more sophisticated strategic considerations. Fu Guosheng pointed out that every step—from surgical decision-making and stent selection to risk assessment and long-term prognosis management—requires precise functional measurements, imaging evaluations, and rich clinical experience.

To this end, the department is not only equipped with advanced equipment such as intravascular ultrasound but also has established an elite cardiac intensive care team. Through the comprehensive application of technologies such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP), left ventricular assist devices, and artificial hearts, the team strives to help high-risk patients through the acute phase, striving for time and opportunities for subsequent treatment.

"For these high-risk patients, a slight 'relaxation' by doctors may mean the end of life, but full efforts in treatment bring hope—even if cardiac function is impaired, patients can transition with the help of cardiac assist devices and seek heart transplantation opportunities," Fu Guosheng admitted.

While opening the "life channel," how to help patients go further and live better is another long-term research direction of the department. Led by Zhang Wenbin’s team, the department has built a multi-center coronary heart disease cohort in Zhejiang Province. Relying on real-world big data, it systematically explores and continuously optimizes chronic disease management paths, develops a variety of intelligent software platforms, and optimizes the management of perioperative complications of interventional therapy.

Relevant achievements have been promoted and applied in more than 30 hospitals nationwide, serving over 10,000 patients. Among them, the mobile terminal-based cognitive behavioral intervention strategy has significantly increased the blood lipid control rate of coronary heart disease patients by 10–25%. The team also undertakes the major special project "Science and Technology Innovation 2030" of the Ministry of Science and Technology, focusing on blood lipid management in ultra-high-risk cardiovascular disease populations, and promoting the standardization and precision of chronic coronary heart disease management.

Not Only Saving Patients with Severe Myocardial Infarction, But Also Helping Them Live Well

In China, the mortality rate of acute myocardial infarction remains high. The reasons are twofold: on the one hand, delayed treatment—some patients develop critical myocardial infarction due to delayed medical consultation, increasing the difficulty of treatment; on the other hand, insufficient intensive care capabilities—there is currently a lack of a team-based and standardized advanced life support system for patients with severe complications such as cardiogenic shock, pump failure (a state where the heart’s systolic or diastolic function is severely impaired, unable to effectively pump blood to meet the body’s needs), malignant arrhythmia, and cardiac rupture.

Based on this, the Department of Cardiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, together with key members of the cardiac surgery, critical care medicine, and catheterization laboratory teams, explores solutions for the treatment of patients with severe myocardial infarction.

Earlier this year, Zhejiang Province announced the list of the first batch of "small but strong" clinical innovation teams, and the severe myocardial infarction team of the Department of Cardiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital was successfully selected.

"For patients with severe myocardial infarction, in addition to opening the infarction-related blood vessels as soon as possible in accordance with the acute myocardial infarction process, it is more important to conduct a systematic and comprehensive precise assessment, make rapid and reasonable treatment decisions, select key mechanical circulatory support systems, and provide comprehensive and effective adjuvant drug therapy. Our goal is not only to save patients’ lives but also to help them live well and return to normal life as much as possible," mentioned Huang He, vice president of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital and clinical director of the severe myocardial infarction team.

Mr. Liu, a man in his 40s from Taizhou, suffered a sudden acute myocardial infarction—90% stenosis of the left circumflex coronary artery, 90% stenosis of the right coronary artery, and complete occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery, with an extremely critical condition. Although the local hospital opened some blood vessels for him, Mr. Liu still developed severe cardiac insufficiency, unable to lie down and with unstable blood pressure. After receiving the consultation request, the severe myocardial infarction team of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital rushed to the local hospital immediately, installed ECMO for Mr. Liu on-site, and escorted him to Hangzhou for transfer. Subsequently, the team implemented a series of treatments including optimizing hemodynamic management, opening the remaining occluded blood vessels, and performing complete revascularization.

Two weeks later, ECMO was successfully removed. According to Mr. Liu’s condition, the team dynamically adjusted the treatment plan and combined it with systematic rehabilitation training—after nearly two months of intensive treatment, Mr. Liu finally recovered and was discharged smoothly.

"As one of China’s first chest pain centers and coronary intervention training centers, we admit more than 22,000 hospitalized patients with cardiovascular diseases every year, accumulating rich clinical experience in the treatment of critical acute myocardial infarction and corresponding key core technologies," Huang He said. The team’s advantages stem from continuous innovation in three aspects: optimization of drug treatment plans, innovation in device therapy, and improvement of the treatment system. Taking device innovation as an example, on the basis of ensuring surgical safety and success rate, the team is committed to developing transradial coronary interventional therapy for acute myocardial infarction, constantly challenging taboos. It has not only realized routine transradial interventional therapy for mild to moderate acute myocardial infarction patients but also successfully applied this technology to critically ill patients, reaching international advanced levels.

From "Following" to "Leading"

Individualized Atrial Fibrillation Diagnosis and Treatment Combined with Whole-Life Cycle Care

Arrhythmia diseases including atrial fibrillation (AF) are the second most common diseases admitted by the Department of Cardiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital. In 2024, the department performed more than 4,300 arrhythmia ablation surgeries.

Dr. Jiang Chenyang, deputy director of the Department of Cardiology and director of the Atrial Fibrillation Center at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, introduced that the typical symptoms of AF include palpitations, chest tightness, shortness of breath, frequent urination, and anxiety and depression caused thereby. Some AF patients have no symptoms at ordinary times and are only found during physical examinations. However, even without symptoms, long-term AF is prone to serious complications such as heart failure, stroke, and cognitive impairment.

"As early as the late 1990s, we began to pay attention to AF and became one of the first units in China to carry out AF catheter ablation. We were also the first in Zhejiang Province to be equipped with a three-dimensional cardiac electrophysiology mapping system," Jiang Chenyang said. With the routine development of AF ablation technology, the team has made rapid breakthroughs. Jiang Chenyang himself has become one of the top surgeons in China within a few years, being one of the few doctors in the country who could complete the surgery within one hour at that time. In 2015, a research achievement of the team was published as the second author in the top medical journal The New England Journal of Medicine.

Jiang Chenyang mentioned that based on the "patient-centered" concept, while providing individualized AF diagnosis and treatment plans for patients, the team particularly emphasizes whole-life cycle care. "AF is an age-related disease. Even if the catheter ablation treatment is very successful this time, with the increase of age, especially when risk factors such as hypertension, alcohol consumption, diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea are not effectively controlled, AF may recur or develop again in the future." To this end, the team has established multi-dimensional connections with patients. In addition to regular follow-up reminders and outpatient visits, nearly 50 WeChat groups have been set up to provide free answers to patients’ daily questions and monthly online popular science lectures. This whole-life cycle care concept has become a major highlight of electrophysiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital.

Today, the annual number of AF ablation surgeries at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital ranks among the top in China. In terms of catheter ablation, on the basis of closely following the development of cutting-edge technologies at home and abroad, the department is not satisfied with being a simple "follower" but conducts multi-dimensional and comprehensive research and tackling of the pain points and difficulties in the field of AF, transforming from "following" to "leading"—it is a national leader in green electrophysiology technology (radiofrequency ablation surgery without the use of X-rays) and one of the most experienced institutions in the world for AF catheter ablation; it took the lead in applying intracardiac echocardiography instead of transesophageal echocardiography in clinical practice nationwide, significantly shortening the length of hospital stay and improving patients’ hospital experience; it innovatively proposed the endocardial-epicardial combined ablation strategy internationally, significantly improving the success rate of refractory AF surgery…

"Particularly noteworthy is that last year, in collaboration with Beijing Anzhen Hospital, we published a study in the top international medical journal JAMA for the first time in the field of electrophysiology, proving that linear ablation + pulmonary vein isolation can improve the success rate of persistent AF, causing a sensation in the industry and is expected to change the guidelines related to AF catheter ablation," Jiang Chenyang said.

Selected as One of the First 12 National Cardiac Valve Disease Interventional Centers

With the acceleration of population aging in China, the incidence of cardiac valve disease is increasing year by year. The development of minimally invasive interventional therapy has brought new hope to such patients.

"Cardiac valves are one-way valves that ensure the orderly work of the heart. Their diseases include stenosis and insufficiency," Fu Guosheng explained. Stenosis of the aortic valve—the most important valve of the heart—is the most common, often being degenerative changes combined with severe calcification, which can be simply understood as degradation caused by frequent opening and closing. Such patients are mostly elderly with stenosis and often have complex underlying diseases, resulting in very few opportunities for surgical treatment. However, transcatheter minimally invasive surgery has the advantages of small trauma, fast recovery, and prognosis effect no less than or even better than surgical surgery. He particularly emphasized that aortic insufficiency is divided into primary and secondary types. Unlike aortic stenosis, due to the heart’s strong compensatory capacity, even patients with extremely enlarged hearts may have no symptoms or only mild symptoms. But once symptoms appear, it means severe heart failure, and the patient’s condition will decline sharply, often missing the surgical opportunity. In the past, surgical treatment had limited effect on the primary disease, and the surgical effect was often unsatisfactory. Now, transcatheter minimally invasive methods are used to solve the problem. Due to small trauma and fast recovery, patients’ acceptance is improved, the treatment rate is increased, and the long-term prognosis of patients is greatly improved. After surgery, patients’ cardiac function can be well recovered.

Up to now, the Department of Cardiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital has completed nearly 700 transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surgeries and more than 120 transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) surgeries, making it one of the most experienced centers in China. Both quality and quantity rank among the top in Zhejiang Province and even the whole country.

In 2023, the Department of Cardiology at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital became one of the first 12 national cardiac valve disease interventional centers in China, opening a new era of interventional treatment for structural heart diseases. The team continuously breaks through technical bottlenecks, carrying out a number of cutting-edge technologies such as TAVR and transcatheter mitral/tricuspid valve edge-to-edge repair, providing safe and effective minimally invasive treatment options for more elderly valve disease patients and high-risk surgical patients. It is worth mentioning that for transcatheter aortic valve replacement surgery for insufficiency, the team has developed a personalized surgical method based on precise preoperative evaluation and intelligent algorithms, making the surgery safer and more effective.

Last year, the project "Transcatheter Interventional Valve for Severe Aortic Regurgitation" led by Professor Fu Guosheng was selected for support under Zhejiang Province’s "Elite" R&D Program. Currently, it has entered the animal experiment stage, promising to bring more choices and hope to the majority of patients.