Society

Expert calls for innovation in interventional neurosurgery

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-17 11:34

HOUSTON - A Chinese medical expert on Thursday called for his Chinese counterparts to make efforts in innovating technologies to make the country a real world leader in the field of interventional neuroradiology.

China is leading the world in terms of the number of surgeries and in surgical skills in the interventional neurosurgery, Liu Jianmin, head of the neurosurgery department of Changhai Hospital in Shanghai, said on the sidelines of an interventional neuroradiology conference.

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However, Liu said Chinese neurologists should play a more active role in technological innovation and in turning their clinical experience into theory and technologies.

Changhai Hospital alone carries out more than 1,500 interventional neuroradiology surgeries a year, making the hospital one of a handful of hospitals in the world which can carry out such a large number of surgeries a year, he said.

As for intracranial aneurysms interventional therapy, a component of  interventional neurosurgery, Changhai Hospital carries out more than 500 cases of such therapies a year. Even in the United States, a leader in this field, only two medical institutes carry out more than 400 cases of such therapies yearly, said Liu.

"China is among the leading countries in the world in terms of the number of interventional neurosurgical therapies, and Chinese doctors are often invited to go abroad to attend seminars or teach operative surgeries," Liu said.

However, China has a great potential in the the treatment of neurovascular diseases with interventional therapies, given the country's ability of technological innovation in this field, he said.

"We use fairly expensive imported equipment and our doctors have very rich clinical experience," said Liu.

These doctors should be the valuable source of technological innovation. But, unfortunately, many good ideas rot in these doctors' mind, Liu said.

Calling on Chinese doctors to play a more active role in medical technological transformation, Liu said Changhai Hospital has already teamed up with several Chinese research institutes to set up a research and development center.

The first "made-in-China" aneurysm stent, developed by Chinese researchers under his leadership, has entered clinical trials, he said.

"Only after we develop a series of world-level technologies and products can we proudly claim that China has become a leader in interventional neurosurgery."

According to the World Health Organization, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases are the major causes of human deaths.

Data from the Chinese Health Ministry also show that cerebrovascular disease is now the second largest killer in China, following cancer. In cerebrovascular disease, cerebral aneurysm has the highest mortality.