Neurology
Overview
The Department of Neurology is a Jiangsu Provincial Key Clinical Specialty, national standardized resident training base for neurology, National Health Commission Stroke Screening and Prevention Base, national clinical drug trial base and national advanced stroke center. It serves as a postgraduate training base for neurology master students of Jiangnan University and Nantong University, and acts as the leading unit of Wuxi Neurology Quality Control Center and the chairman unit of Wuxi Stroke Specialty Alliance. It has been awarded the title of National Advanced Unit in the Stroke High-risk Population Screening and Intervention Program issued by the National Health Commission.
The department has 115 inpatient beds, consisting of general wards including neurological intensive care unit, and neurofunction examination rooms equipped with electromyography, electroencephalography and neuropsychological assessment services. It is furnished with transcranial Doppler, electromyograph, evoked potential detector, polysomnography system, central neurological monitoring system, routine electroencephalograph and ambulatory/video electroencephalograph and other advanced facilities.
Currently, the department has 13 chief physicians, 7 doctors with doctoral degrees, 2 PhD candidates and 4 master’s supervisors.
Treatment Scope
The Department of Neurology routinely provides diagnosis and treatment for diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems, covering common ailments such as dizziness, headache and sleep disorders; cerebrovascular diseases including cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage and transient ischemic attack; neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease; epilepsy of various seizure types; peripheral neuropathies including facial neuritis and trigeminal neuralgia. It delivers standardized diagnosis and treatment for neuroimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and autoimmune encephalitis (AE), and boasts rich clinical experience in the management of central nervous system infections. Specialized clinics are available as follows: Memory Disorder Clinic (every Thursday morning) and Headache Clinic (every Wednesday morning).
Technical advantages
It conducts standardized diagnosis and treatment for stroke patients, including intravenous thrombolysis for ischemic stroke and screening and assessment of stroke risk factors. Comprehensive evaluation of ischemic stroke is performed via carotid color Doppler ultrasound, TCD, CTA, MRI and DSA, establishing an integrated prevention and treatment system covering primary prevention, acute-phase treatment, rehabilitation and secondary prevention. Multi-dimensional scales are adopted to assess neurological function, cognitive function and psychosocial factors. Combined with neuroimaging examinations, early screening, diagnosis and intervention of memory disorders are carried out. Whole-course standardized management is implemented for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. Targeted biological agent therapy is available for neuroimmune diseases. Polysomnography is routinely performed for early identification of sleep apnea, parasomnia, narcolepsy, rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, restless legs syndrome and other sleep disorders. TCD bubble test is applied as a new examination method for etiological screening of stroke and migraine as well as diagnosis of patent foramen ovale. Routine electromyography is used to detect peripheral nerve conduction velocity and amplitude, assisting the diagnosis of facial neuritis, Guillain-Barré syndrome and other diseases, and evaluating the degree of nerve injury and clinical prognosis.
Research achievements
The department has presided over 2 projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China undertaken by Ma Tao and Zhu Xichen respectively, 7 provincial and ministerial-level research projects including those funded by the Ministry of Education and Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation, and more than 20 municipal research projects in Wuxi. It has been awarded three Jiangsu Provincial Medical New Technology Introduction Prizes. Nearly 20 papers have been published in SCI journals, Chinese Medical Association series journals and other core journals in the past three years, including 2 papers included in CAS Journal Ranking Zone 1. As a standardized residency training base for neurology and general practice, it undertakes teaching tasks for Jiangnan University and Nantong University. There are 15 qualified faculty members for neurology residency training and over ten postgraduate students studying in the department. It was honored as the Hospital Outstanding Residency Training Base in 2023. In the past three years, the department has successively held multiple national and provincial continuing medical education courses.