Nine specialized clinical care centers at Ruijin Hospital have officially launched to coincide with the institution’s 119th anniversary, marking a transformative overhaul of its healthcare delivery model.

The nine hubs — the Cancer Center, EPAT Endocrine Tumor Center, Cardiac Center, Liver Center, Colorectal Disease Center, Complex Respiratory Disease Center, Urinary Stone Disease Center, Critical Care Center and Trauma Center — are designed to address complex, severe illnesses by reorganizing medical resources around patients, rather than individual departments.

As diseases grow increasingly multifaceted, treatment confined to a single discipline often fails to meet clinical needs. The newly launched centers seek to answer a fundamental question: how to restructure medical consultation and treatment for patients with complicated conditions. Instead of patients navigating from one department to another to seek specialists, multidisciplinary teams converge on a unified platform to jointly assess cases, craft personalized treatment plans and deliver coordinated care.

Dr Ning Guang, president of Ruijin Hospital, stated that the hospital is moving beyond the traditional department-based framework to build an innovative, patient-centered medical service system. Targeting major and hard-to-treat diseases, the nine centers consolidate relevant clinical departments, technical platforms and medical resources, accelerating the shift from department-driven care toward disease- and patient-led treatment.

Each of the nine centers carries distinct responsibilities while working in synergy. The Cancer Center develops a comprehensive non-surgical cancer care system integrating medical imaging, radiotherapy, pharmacotherapy and interventional therapy. The EPAT Endocrine Tumor Center — named for Endocrine, Pituitary, Adrenal and Thyroid — streamlines diagnosis, surgery, perioperative management and long-term follow-up for pituitary, adrenal and thyroid disorders. The Cardiac Center advances multidisciplinary diagnosis and lifelong management for cardiovascular diseases; the Liver Center coordinates liver disease diagnosis, medication, interventional procedures and surgical care. The Colorectal Disease Center delivers multidisciplinary evaluation and combined treatment for colorectal ailments; the Complex Respiratory Disease Center optimizes one-stop care pathways for severe, intricate respiratory conditions. The Urinary Stone Disease Center connects stone diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and preventive care. The Critical Care Center assembles multidisciplinary emergency rescue capacity, while the Trauma Center standardizes rapid assessment, cross-specialty intervention and end-to-end management for severely injured patients.

Two flagship centers illustrate this paradigm shift: the Cancer Center and EPAT Endocrine Tumor Center. While the former focuses on non-surgical oncology care and the latter on full-cycle management of endocrine tumors, both share the same core mission: breaking down siloed departmental boundaries and assembling cross-disciplinary teams to create customized treatment plans for individual patients.

“Cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory illnesses and diabetes constitute four major non-communicable diseases threatening public health,” noted Lu Yong, vice president of Ruijin Hospital. For most cancer patients, treatment extends well beyond a single surgery or one course of therapy, evolving into long-term management covering diagnosis, intervention, rehabilitation and follow-up. Key priorities include boosting treatment efficacy, preserving organ function and improving patients’ quality of life.

Within the Cancer Center, radiotherapy, medical oncology, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine and diagnostic radiology merge into a one-stop non-surgical cancer care ecosystem. Patient clinical data, medical equipment and specialist resources are shared across disciplines. Teams conduct joint assessments based on tumor type, disease stage and the patient’s physical condition, combining radiotherapy, drug therapy and interventional procedures into personalized regimens. Patients no longer need to travel between departments searching for specialists; the system maps out the optimal care pathway for them.

Precision imaging lays the foundation for accurate treatment. The center is equipped with high-field MRI, photon-counting CT, PET/MR and long-axis PET/CT scanners, paired with a cyclotron and radiopharmaceutical labeling platform for molecular imaging research to detect tiny lesions, measure tumor invasion and identify metastatic sites.

On the therapeutic front, it maintains a portfolio of precision radiotherapy technologies including TOMO, CyberKnife, linear accelerators and proton therapy. Where clinically indicated, targeted radiotherapy can eradicate tumors while sparing healthy tissue, offering curative non-surgical options for eligible patients.

The domestic proton therapy system serves as a cornerstone of this integrated framework. As of Oct 9, Ruijin’s Proton Center had treated 1,694 patients across diverse tumor types and anatomical regions. Unlike standalone proton facilities at specialized cancer hospitals, proton therapy here is embedded within a general hospital’s multidisciplinary platform. If cancer patients also suffer from cardiovascular, metabolic or neurological comorbidities, relevant specialists can join joint evaluation and care, delivering holistic medical support for complex cases.

“The value of proton therapy lies not merely in the equipment itself, but in selecting the right patients and identifying the optimal timing for intervention,” explained Dr Chen Jiayi, director of the Department of Radiation Oncology. The center has established a prioritization protocol: pediatric cancer patients and those with narrow treatment windows receive priority assessments, while specialized nurses monitor treatment progress and follow-up. For head-and-neck cancers, select rectal tumors and breast cancer, the team is exploring protocols to minimize treatment-related damage and protect organ function within standardized clinical pathways and research frameworks.

For advanced and complex tumors, the center incorporates standardized chemotherapy, minimally invasive interventions and cutting-edge clinical trials. It advances research into cancer vaccines and cell therapy, and explores radioactive seed implantation and multimodal techniques in interventional oncology.

Building a non-surgical cancer care system is not about replacing one therapy with another. Ruijin rationally combines treatments according to each patient’s condition, prioritizing treatment tolerance, organ function and long-term quality of life, so patients can return to their families and society after receiving standardized care.

Endocrine tumors of the pituitary, adrenal and thyroid glands are inherently cross-disciplinary conditions. Patients may require surgery alongside preoperative hormone assessment, perioperative management, postoperative hormone replacement and lifelong follow-up. In the past, patients often had to seek referrals across multiple departments, resulting in disjointed information and fragmented care plans.

EPAT brings together endocrinology and metabolism, urology, neurosurgery and thyroid surgery, supported by radiology, pathology and nursing teams, to create a closed-loop care continuum spanning diagnosis, surgery, perioperative care, rehabilitation and long-term monitoring.

“EPAT is not simply gathering experts for consultations. It means joint ward rounds, collective case reviews and co-developed individualized treatment plans,” said Dr Wang Weiqing. Once enrolled in the center, patients receive continuous hormone evaluation and adjustment from endocrinologists, while surgical teams determine the timing and approach of operations. Nursing staff provide perioperative care and psychological support.

The center features private single and double rooms, with no triple wards or corridor beds, and a dedicated nursing team. Beyond vital sign monitoring, drain care and hormone replacement guidance, nurses offer psychological counselling to address body-image anxiety in pituitary tumor patients, blood pressure concerns for those with adrenal disease, and fear of recurrence among thyroid cancer patients.

Technologically, adrenal tumor care evaluates tumor function, surgical risk and postoperative hormonal shifts, deploying 3D reconstruction, laparoscopic and robotic surgery. Pituitary tumor teams perform endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery assisted by neuronavigation and intraoperative imaging. For thyroid cancers, surgeons select open, endoscopic or robotic-assisted procedures. Eligible patients may receive treatment via transoral vestibular or transaxillary approaches to preserve organ function and cosmetic outcomes while adhering to oncology standards.

Data demonstrates the tangible impact of this transformation. By linking hormone testing, tumor localization, surgery, postoperative hormonal regulation and long-term follow-up, EPAT delivers seamless closed-loop multidisciplinary care. The average hospital stay for patients with functional adrenal tumors has been cut from 14 days to seven days, while stays for functional pituitary tumors have fallen from 21 days to 10 days.

Shorter hospital stays translate to real financial savings for families, reducing accommodation and caregiving costs. This embodies the public welfare mission of public hospitals.

“Discharge is not an endpoint, but a new starting point for lifelong health management.” For patients with endocrine tumors, surgical removal of lesions does not mark the end of care. Thyroid cancer patients may require long-term hormone modulation; pituitary tumor patients need regular pituitary function assessments; patients with adrenal disorders require ongoing monitoring of blood pressure and metabolic indicators.

EPAT extends services beyond hospital walls via follow-up clinics, patient education, public lectures and wellness guidance, tracking tumor recurrence risks, hormone levels and quality of life. Patients learn skills for medication management, diet, exercise and self-monitoring.

From patients rushing between departments to experts gathering around patients; from single interventions to multidisciplinary joint decision-making; from one-off treatment to full-cycle health management. The launch of the nine care centers signals that Ruijin is transitioning from platform development to real-world clinical practice, offering an innovative model for public hospitals to advance interdisciplinary integration and enhance patient experience.