The Spinal Surgery Department of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital currently houses 122 beds and has 43 nurses and 36 doctors, including 5 chief physicians and 11 deputy chief physicians, among whom 27 hold medical doctor degrees and 4 hold master degrees. In 2014 the department treated 117,783 outpatients/cases and 6,958 emergency patients/cases and completed 3,399 operations annually; the medical staff published 25 research papers including 8 ones in SCI journals. In October 2010 the department was listed as one of the national key clinical disciplines by the Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China.

In 1997 under the leadership of President Tian Wei, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital founded the Spinal Surgery Department, the first independent Spinal Surgery Department in the Beijing. By 2015 the Spinal Surgery Department has 110 beds, 5 chief physicians, 11 deputy chief physicians and 9 attending physicians and it has trained 32 medical students with midcal doctor degrees and 13 ones with master degrees. Aiming to build the Spinal Surgery Department into a world class department, President Tian Wei has introduced internationally advanced concepts and technologies of spinal surgery into China.

In 1995 the Spinal Surgery Department of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital was the first specialized department to regularly use the micro-grinding and micro-drilling technology in China. In 1996 it carried out the spinous process splitting laminoplasty using coralline hydroxyapatite which has been promoted and applied in a lot of hospitals in China after it was innovatively improved and standardized. In 1997 it carried out the Magerl+Brooks operation to treat atlantoaxial subluxation, which was the first systematic clinical and experimental study in China. In 2001 it carried out the high difficulty operation of internal fixation using the cervical pedicle screw system and achieved good clinical results. In 2002 it applied the navigation technology to the spinal surgery to improve its accuracy and safety, which occupied the leading position in the world. President Tian Wei has made remarkable contributions to the improvement and development of this technology. In 2003 the Spinal Department took the lead in carrying out the artificial cervical disc replacement. In March 2005 President Tian Wei was elected head of the Bryan Disc Study Group China. In 2005 President Tian Wei performed the first surgery using the intraoperative 3D C-arm navigation system in Asia-Pacific region, filling the gap in the field of accurate and safe operation in high difficulty cervical spinal surgeries. In January 2009 President Tian Wei made a perfect dialogue with his American counterparts on the operating table in Yale University.

Since 1995 the Spinal Surgery Department has begun the basic and clinical research about the application of coralline hydroxyapatite to cervical spine surgery. In 2003 the Spinal Surgery Department won the third prize of Beijing Science and Technology Progress Award for its application of coralline hydroxyapatite to anterior cervical spine surgery. In 2002 it carried out the 863 program-funded study on the new artificial bone material, the amphiphilic matrix from polymer tissue engineering which can enhance cell adhesion. In 2004 the Spinal Surgery Department undertook the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China during the 10th Five-Year Plan, the study on the standardization of diagnosis and treatment of spinal instability. In 2004 the Spinal Surgery Department’s application of the navigation system to cervical spine surgery was funded by the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission. In 2005 its immunological study of spinal disk was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China. In 2009 the Spinal Surgery Department was awarded Beijing Science and Technology Award and Chinese Medical Science Prize for its “Ultrasonic Osteotome with Composite Vibration” and its “Tissue Engineered Cartilage Graft of Composite Structures and Its Preparation Method” was granted patent of invention. In 2010 it was awarded Chinese Medical Science Prize for its “Study on the Application of Computer-Assisted Navigation System in Spinal Surgery” and its “Precision Indicator for Surgical Computer Navigation System” was granted patent of invention.

“Peaches and plums do not have to talk, yet the world beats a path to them.” The Spinal Surgery Department has undertaken the clinical teaching of five-year program, seven-year program and eight-year program clinical medical students and nursing students of Peking University Health Science Center (PUHSC) and the training of national orthopedist training program and PUHSC fellows. It has made great contributions to the training of China’s orthopedist talents.

The Spinal Surgery Department of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital currently houses 122 beds and has 43 nurses and 36 doctors, including 5 chief physicians and 11 deputy chief physicians, among whom 27 hold medical doctor degrees and 4 hold master degrees. In 2014 the department treated 117,783 outpatients/cases and 6,958 emergency patients/cases and completed 3,399 operations annually; the medical …