Nation's First Comprehensive Chest Tumor Center Starts Operation

Patients with chest tumors now no longer need to go back and forth between departments, seeking different specialists for check-ups, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, as the China's first thoracic tumor clinic and treatment center has been established in Shanghai.

The center at Shanghai East Hospital offers comprehensive and one-stop medical outpatient and hospitalized service for chest tumor patients. Patients just stay at the center, where specialists in different majors work in the same area and sit together to discuss the best treatment plan.

Lung cancer is the top cancer for both men and women in China. In the latest cancer report, new cases reported in the nation in 2022 accounted for 22 percent of the total cancer cases of the year, and the death cases accounted for 28.5 percent of cancer fatalities in 2022. In Shanghai, lung tumor is also the top cancer killer for residents.

The medical technology dealing with lung cancer has been developing very fast. Under the traditional health care model, patients have to travel between different departments. Due to diverse opinions on the treatment plan from different specialists, it can be difficult to achieve a unified and effective remedy.

"This traditional service model can result in delay in treatment and put mental pressure on patients and their families," said Dr Zhou Caicun, a leading specialist of the new center, which consists of experts on surgery, internal medicine, oncology, imaging, pathology and respiration.

"Experts break the barriers of each major at the center to achieve a deep integration of different medical resources. There is no competition between majors as all the specialists share the only goal to find the most appropriate and individualized treatment plan for patients, who can receive a whole-process treatment and management. It is a patient-centered model instead of a specialist-centered model," he said.

In addition to innovation in the service model, the center also realizes an improvement in efficiency and quality. By creating a quick biopsy technology on terminal lung cancer for molecular subtyping, the center is able to shorten the whole process, from receiving the patient to getting the treatment plan ready, to within three days, much quicker than the routine six to seven weeks in Western countries, buying precious treatment time for patients.

"This quick speed can be the most competitive issue of our center. Our new center has already received patients coming all the way from the US and New Zealand," he added.

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