Visiting the national-level key urology specialist in Shanghai

In Pudong New District, there is a hospital in the Department of Urology, which carries many heavy brands such as "National Key Clinical Specialties" and "Key Subjects of Shanghai City." It is not only an important clinical teaching base for Shanghai Health Medical College, but also a new clinical medicine specialty in public hospitals that Pudong New District strives to build. This department is the Department of Urology, Pudong Gongli Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Health Medical College. For ordinary citizens, especially patients suffering from urinary diseases, what do these "names" mean? What are the real skills of its "lizi"? Today, let's find out.

Walking into this department, you will find that its "main direction" is very clear and specialized: it does not simply pursue the amount of surgery, but focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and long-term management of urinary dysfunction diseases. What is a dysfunctional disease? Simply put, the organ itself does not have "hardware" problems such as tumors and stones, but its functions are faulty. For example, frequent urgent urination, increased nocturnal urination, laborious urination, or long-term unexplained pain in the bladder area (interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome is often diagnosed medically). Although these diseases are not directly life-threatening, they greatly reduce the patient's quality of life and can be called "unspeakable pain." This is one of the regional diagnosis and treatment centers that solve these "unspeakable pains".

So, where is its "hard core" strength reflected? The first trick is to "jointly diagnose and see the essence clearly." In many complex cases, it is difficult to break the roots of a urologist alone. The department has established a strong "support group" that unites experts from imaging departments, laboratory departments (especially platforms for carrying out metabolomic and immunological analysis), and even pain departments and psychology departments. When a difficult patient sees a doctor, this "support group" may be activated. The shape and function of pelvic floor muscles and nerves are carefully examined through high-definition magnetic resonance; the "chemical fingerprint" of the disease is found by analyzing tiny metabolites in urine; and the patient's pain perception and psychological state are evaluated. The goal of this multi-angle, large-scale consultation evaluation is to see the disease more clearly and comprehensively and pave the way for precise treatment.

The second method is to "vary from person to person, treat them in categories." Experts in the department realized that the same is bladder pain, and the causes of different people may be very different. Therefore, they are vigorously promoting "precise stratified diagnosis and treatment." Just like classifying clothes into S, M, and L codes, they tried to divide patients into different types based on their symptoms and examination results (including emerging functional brain imaging, blood indicators, etc.). Some types may focus on repairing the bladder mucosa, some on relaxing overstretched pelvic floor muscles, and some need to regulate a disturbed nervous or immune system. Now that the direction of treatment is clear, the effect will naturally be more guaranteed. Currently, the department is constantly improving this classification method by taking the lead in conducting real-world research covering multiple hospitals to benefit more patients.

The third trick is to "manage both treatment and long-term." The management of chronic diseases is a "protracted war". The department has innovatively established an "integrated chronic disease management model" and equipped with an intelligent follow-up system. After patients are discharged from the hospital, they can keep in touch with the department through their mobile phones. The system will regularly remind patients for re-examination, and patients can upload changes in their symptoms and obtain professional rehabilitation guidance. It's like having a team of "family doctors" continuously providing support in the cloud, which greatly facilitates patients and consolidates the treatment effect.

In addition, as a new-quality specialist in Pudong New District, the department is also exploring new ways of "integrating medical and engineering", cooperating with universities and enterprises to participate in the development of smarter and more convenient urinary disease diagnosis and rehabilitation equipment, so that technology can better serve health.

For residents in Shanghai, especially Pudong, having such a distinctive and cutting-edge urology specialist around you is undoubtedly a health guarantee. It represents an upgrade of the concept of diagnosis and treatment: from "treating existing diseases" to "accurately treating difficult diseases" to "long-term management of chronic diseases." If you or your family are troubled by repeated frequent urination, urgency, pelvic pain and other problems, you may wish to consider this department with national key specialty qualifications when seeking secondary diagnosis and treatment advice or hoping to obtain more systematic management. Understanding its characteristics may open a new window of hope for you.