The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University

National Key Clinical Specialties (Rehabilitation Medicine, Orthopedics); National Regional Neurological Medical Center jointly established by the National Health Commission and Guangdong Province; Guangzhou Major and Complex Diseases (Spinal Cord Injury) Diagnosis and Treatment Center; National Key Research and Development Program Project Support Unit; Clinical Research Platform for Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury; Brain-Computer Interface and Neuromodulation Center. The leading unit of the National Key Research and Development Program "Clinical Research on Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury," leading the first stem cell clinical research project in the field of spinal cord injury in China to be registered with the National Health Commission and the State Drug Administration. One of the first core units of the National Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics and Sports Rehabilitation. The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is the lead unit for a National Key Research and Development Program project. In the past five years, it has received 22 grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and has led one National Key Research and Development Program project. The department boasts a number of leading scientists, including chief scientists of National Key Research and Development Programs, leading talents in health and medical fields under the Guangdong Special Support Program, and leading medical talents in Guangdong Province.

1. Historical Origins and Spiritual Inheritance

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine was established in 1995, specializing in and excelling in neurorehabilitation. The Department of Spinal Surgery originated from the Department of Orthopedics, founded in 1972. It is the lead unit of the National Key Research and Development Program "Clinical Research on Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury" and one of the first core units of the National Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics and Sports Rehabilitation. The two departments have formed a collaborative tradition in the treatment and rehabilitation of spinal cord injuries, encompassing "acute surgical decompression—subacute functional reconstruction—long-term rehabilitation management," with their core values condensed as "function-oriented and evidence-based." The Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Center was established under the leadership of Rong Limin's team. It integrates multiple disciplines such as spinal surgery, rehabilitation medicine, critical care medicine, and urology to build a complete chain of spinal cord injury diagnosis and treatment system, including emergency care, surgery, critical care, rehabilitation, and long-term follow-up. It inherits the integrated diagnosis and treatment concept of "surgical repair + nerve regeneration + functional reconstruction".

1. Core Business Efficiency

The Tianhe and Lingnan campuses have dedicated spinal cord injury rehabilitation wards, with a total of 105 beds. The Luogang campus is expected to have 140 beds after the addition of a second ward in 2026. The Department of Spinal Surgery includes a scoliosis center with 131 beds. It is equipped with a motor function assessment room, a urodynamic testing room, a robotic rehabilitation training area, and a neuromodulation therapy room. Services cover bedside rehabilitation in the acute phase, functional reconstruction in the subacute phase, management of chronic complications, and community rehabilitation guidance. The department completes hundreds of spinal cord injury functional assessments and rehabilitation interventions annually, undertakes national continuing education projects, and trains spinal cord injury rehabilitation specialists nationwide. It has also established a leading domestic biobank of spinal cord injuries.

1. Discipline Positioning

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is a National Key Clinical Specialty Construction Project Unit, a National Key Research and Development Program Project Chief Unit, and a Guangdong Provincial High-Level Key Clinical Specialty. In the 2023 Fudan University Rankings, the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine ranked sixth in the country, and has been among the top ten in the country for six consecutive years, and has ranked first in South China for four consecutive years. One of the few MDT centers in China to achieve seamless integration of spinal surgery and spinal cord injury rehabilitation; its stem cell repair of spinal cord injury and brain-computer interface exoskeleton rehabilitation are at the forefront of international standards; its standardized rehabilitation programs for post-spinal cord injury spasms and neurogenic bladder are domestic benchmarks; it has taken the lead in formulating domestic group standards for spinal cord injury stem cell therapy in accordance with the diagnostic and treatment standards of the International Society for Spinal Cord Injury (ISCoS), and its technical solutions have been promoted to many parts of the country.

It relies on the National Key Clinical Specialties (Rehabilitation Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine), Guangdong Provincial COPD Rehabilitation Engineering Technology Research Center, National Standardized Cardiac Rehabilitation Certification Center, and the National Neuroregional Medical Center Multidisciplinary Collaboration Platform jointly built by the Ministry of Health and the province.

1. Historical Origins and Spiritual Inheritance

Established in April 2019, the Cardiac Rehabilitation Center leverages the years of experience of the Department of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, integrating cardiology, respiratory and critical care medicine, and rehabilitation medicine to form an integrated MDT (Multidisciplinary Team) for cardiopulmonary rehabilitation. Adhering to the disciplinary concepts of "early intervention in critical care, precise assessment of cardiopulmonary function, and full-cycle functional reconstruction," it breaks away from the traditional internal medicine model of treating only the lesion and neglecting functional recovery, establishing a benchmark system for early cardiopulmonary rehabilitation in South China. In July 2020, it passed the National Standardized Cardiac Rehabilitation Center certification and is a member of the Guangdong Alliance of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation Professional Committee of the China Heart Association. The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine has neurological rehabilitation as its core strength. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Associate Chief Physician Zheng Haiqing went to Wuhan to provide assistance and discovered that patients generally had respiratory dysfunction. He created "breathing exercises" to intervene in early lung rehabilitation and formed a practice tradition of multidisciplinary collaboration of "breathing-exercise-psychology".

1. Core Business Efficiency

The Tianhe and Lingnan campuses operate simultaneously, equipped with cardiopulmonary function assessment rooms, external counterpulsation therapy rooms, exercise rehabilitation training rooms, and respiratory training rooms, covering a total area of nearly 100 square meters. They are equipped with cardiopulmonary testing equipment, external counterpulsation devices, resistance training equipment, emergency facilities, bedside ultrasound, and respiratory mechanics monitoring systems, possessing a comprehensive emergency support system. A complete and standardized cardiac rehabilitation and post-PCI exercise rehabilitation process has been established, covering condition assessment, cardiopulmonary function assessment, exercise function assessment, and psychological assessment. Phase II and Phase III cardiac rehabilitation are provided for outpatients and inpatients, while Phase I early assessment and rehabilitation are conducted for critically ill patients in the CCU ward, such as those with myocardial infarction and heart failure. It has outpatient clinics for cardiorehabilitation, smoking cessation, dual-heart disease, and pharmacy. It has a multidisciplinary team (MDT) of rehabilitation, psychology, nutrition, and pharmacy to develop five major prescriptions for cardiorehabilitation (medication, exercise, nutrition, psychology, and smoking cessation). It completes thousands of cardiopulmonary exercise tests and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation interventions annually and undertakes national continuing education projects and training of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation personnel at the grassroots level.

1. Academic Positioning: As one of the first national standardized cardiac rehabilitation centers in South China, and a Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for COPD respiratory rehabilitation; it was among the first in China to promote an integrated cardiac and respiratory rehabilitation model; benchmarking against European and American cardiopulmonary rehabilitation systems, it has achieved advanced domestic and leading South China levels in early postoperative cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and personalized exercise prescriptions for heart failure/COPD; it spearheaded the formulation of Guangdong Province's cardiopulmonary rehabilitation industry standards and exported its MDT rehabilitation model to multiple municipal hospitals within the province. The cardiac rehabilitation center practices the "dual-heart health" concept, helping heart disease patients achieve functional recovery and improved quality of life through precise assessment and individualized guidance.