Office phone No.: +886-2- 2312-3456 ext. 262158
Fax: +886-2-2341-5736
Email: ntuhanes@gmail.com
Precise anesthesia and pain management: Helping you get back to a pain-free life.
About Us
Before the founding of the Division of Anesthesiology, surgical physicians administered anesthesia for surgery. At the end of 1951, when surgeon Dr. Lin Tien-Yu returned from studying abroad in the United States, he was in desperate need of anesthesiologists to assist in advancing the development of thoracic surgery, an already complicated procedure. Thus, he borrowed a portable anesthesia machine from professor Chang Hsien-Lin, who at the time was the Director of Surgery at the National Defense Medical Center (NDMC). Dr. Lin solicited the help of the physician in charge of anesthesia at NDMC, Dr. Wang Hsue-Shih, to assist with thoracic surgery anesthesia every afternoon at NTUH (1951-1952), as well as advise NTUH surgeons on how to administer clinical anesthesia.
In 1953, after twenty years spent specializing in surgical medicine, Dr. Lee Kuang-Yi underwent training from the World Health Organization (WHO) intendedto aid professional physicians in developing countries. For his training, Dr. Lee studied anesthesiology at the Anaesthesiology Centre Copenhagen in Denmark. Upon returning to Taiwan, he became in charge of anesthesia. In 1957, Dr. Lin Ming-Kun returned to Taiwan to work after receiving his Master’s in Anesthesiology from New York University. In 1961, Dr. Chao Chi-Ching returned to Taiwan after study anesthesiology in Denmark. By this point, there were three full-time attending anesthesiologists and one resident anesthesiologist (Dr. Shih Chuan-Mei) at NTUH. As a result, in June of 1962, a ruling was passed to establish the Division of Anesthesiology independent from the Department of Surgery. It was at that point that the foundation was laid for the development of anesthesiology at NTUH.
History of the NTUH Department of Anesthesiology: 1962 - 2018
Milestone Project commences
Begins using electronic anesthesia records for clinical cases
- Website and App for the pre-anesthesia evaluation system go online in March
- NTUH establishes an inter-departmental “Endoscopy Room Medical Treatment Managing Team”[8], and convenes first meeting in June to discuss ways to improve medical work related to the endoscopy process; begins perioperative scheduling
- Operating-room anesthesia information management system goes online for entire operating-room in November
Medical Care and Services
We currently have four sub-specialties: painless labor, painless endoscopy, outpatient services for pain management, and consultation for pain control, all of which provide perioperative anesthesia care.
Ordinary Anesthesiology
Anesthesia can provide patients amnesia (loss of memories), hypnosis, analgesia (feeling no pain), and optimal surgical condition. This helps keep patients healthy and safe throughout the entire surgery. The medical tasks of Ordinary Anesthesiology involve regional anesthesia, spinal anesthesia, epidural anesthesia, caudal anesthesia, and general anesthesia. The services our branch provides include anesthesia for general surgery, anesthesia for transplants, non-operating room anesthesia, critical care, respiratory emergency management, and invasive arteriovenous catheterization and implantation.
Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Pediatric Anesthesiology
Our branch offers anesthesia services for women and children. For women, we provide painless labor during childbirth, anesthesia for C-sections, and anesthesia for gynecological and breast surgeries. For children, we administer anesthesia for pediatric cardiac surgery, pediatric general surgery, pediatric neurosurgery, pediatric otorhinolaryngologic surgery, pediatric orthopedics, and pediatric dentistry. Additionally, we also provide sedatives, analgesia, and anesthesia needed for invasive and non-invasive pediatric examinations and procedures (e.g., for cardiac catheterization, MRIs, and more). We have also recently begun offering anesthesia services for the Oral Health Care Center for Special Needs.
Pain Treatment
Our branch provides medical care such as outpatient services for pain management, care for patients with acute or chronic pain which cannot be controlled by wards, cancer pain control (including Port-A-Cath implantation), postoperative pain control (including two patient-controlled analgesia methods: epidurals and drug delivery via catheters), and various sedatives and analgesias for patients in the intensive care unit.
Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anesthesia
The cardiovascular and respiratory systems are the foundations for maintaining life. Our branch provides anesthesia services for the heart (such as coronary artery surgery, transplant surgery, heart valve surgery, etc.), various vascular surgeries (such as aorta surgery and vascular stenting, etc.), and thoracic surgeries (such as traditional and endoscopic lung surgery, lung transplant, and bronchial, esophageal and mediastinal surgery). Our branch includes specialties in the insertion, analysis and management of invasive monitors for the cardiovascular and respiratory system. We are not only an important part of the larger cardiovascular and respiratory system surgical team, but also key in ensuring continuous post-operative care through precise physiological regulation.