Sino-German Video Conference on Intensive Care Medicine

The Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM has been insisting on improving the medical level and developing modern medicine for many years. It is committed to building the highlands of regional healthcare by focusing on talent cultivation and discipline construction. On July 23, the Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM celebrated the 2022 Doctor's Day by holding a series of events, including the Sino-German Video Conference on Intensive Care Medicine.

Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Müller, Head of Intensive Care, Department of Internal Medicine II University Hospital Regensburg, Germany, was specially invited to give a scientific lecture, titled “E-CPR in 2022: where are we today? how can we improve outcome?”, and participated in the discussion session as an international guest.

Conference Site - Sino-German Video Conference on Intensive Care Medicine

University Hospital Regensburg, an internationally renowned center for ECMO, does about 200 runs per year for critically ill patients. It has a mature treatment system and rich experience in the field of intensive care medicine.

The conference provided a good opportunity for academic exchanges around ECPR (Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) and ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Pulmonary Oxygenation) technologies, which are known as life-saving tools. The focus of the conference is to discuss the latest advancements in the indications of ECMO and ECPR, management of complications, clinical management, etc., with our participants, which will further promote the development of intensive care medicine.

Zhang Guanghua, Vice President of Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM, also attended the conference and extended his warm welcome to Prof. Müller for attending the conference despite his busy schedule. President Zhang introduced that, "Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM has been adhering to the concept of specialty development of combining Chinese and Western medicine and their common development. We will keep up with the frontiers of advanced medical technologies at home and abroad, and continuously improve the treatment level so as to protect the health of our people."

▲Zhang Guanghua, Vice President of Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM

During the discussion session, the team of the Intensive Care Unit and experts from Emergency Department, Thoracic Surgery Department, Respiratory Medicine Department and Cardiology Department actively interacted with Prof. Müller, and both sides discussed and exchanged ideas on topics such as the use of ECMO for trauma patients and cardiac surgical patients, the timing of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention(PCI) and intensive care cases.

Prof. Müller thanked the hospital for the invitation to the conference. He said that the video conference contributed a lot to the development of intensive care medicine on both sides, and he was very looking forward to the next conference for further academic exchanges. The Chinese hospital also hopes that both sides could explore more ways to cooperate and could jointly promote the development of intensive care medicine.

▲Prof. Müller gave a presentation at the conference

▲Li Xiaoying, Director of Medical Services Section, gave a welcome speech

▲Wu Fanghong, Director of Intensive Care Unit, gave a presentation

▲Xu Deze, Deputy Chief Physician of TCM of Intensive Care Unit, gave a presentation

▲Prof. Müller and the specialists actively exchanged ideas with each other

Application of the technology in the department

The technology of ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) is a new technique to save lives in critical condition due to its unique efficacy on severe respiratory failure, and it is also called "Magic lung" in China.

ECMO is a modified artificial heart-lung machine with the core components of membrane lung (artificial lung) and blood pump (artificial heart), which can provide prolonged cardiopulmonary support for patients with severe cardiopulmonary failure, gaining time for subsequent critical care treatment. ECMO is the most effective technique for severe cardiopulmonary failure, and is also known as a "life-saving tool" for critically ill patients. It is a top life support technology that represents the level of critical care in a hospital, a region, or even a country.

Introduction of the department

The Intensive Care Unit of the hospital has two ECMO systems and a high-level ECMO team, which has rich experience in treating patients with severe cardiopulmonary failure. The team can provide the treatment for critically ill patients not only in the hospital, but also out of hospital to achieve cross-regional treatment.

In 2017, the ECMO team did the first successful case of VV-ECMO in Jiangmen, taking the treatment of critical care to a new level; in 2018, it performed the VA-ECMO for the first inter-hospital transfer patient in Jiangmen, bringing the young patient with cardiac arrest back to life. The team has received great support from the hospital leadership, Emergency Department, Cardiology Department, Thoracic Surgery Department, Vascular Surgery Department and many other departments during the process of its growth, which they appreciate a lot.