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History

Department of Surgery

    Taiwan Hospital was founded in 1895, when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. There were only surgical department and medical department established at that time. The hospital was moved to the center of the Taipei city in 1898. Then, the obstetric and gynecologic department was separated from the surgical department, and the surgical department was divided into the first and the second surgical departments. In 1938, Taiwan Hospital was adopted as Empirical Taipei University Hospital, and surgical classrooms and operation rooms were built. After World War II, the hospital was transferred from Japanese government to Chinese government, and became the Hospital of National Taiwan University, Medical School (NTUH). The first surgical department and the second surgical department were merged in 1950, and surgical residency was initiated. Since mid 1950's, a number of clinical milestones have occurred within the school of medicine as follows: 

 
Year History
1954
  • First left lobe hepatectomy by finger fracture technique

1959
  • First right lobe hepatectomy in Asia 

1963
  • First open heart surgery in NTUH  

1964
  • First successful open heart surgery  

1968
  • First living-related renal transplantation in Asia  

1969
  • First cadaveric renal transplantation in Taiwan 

1970
  • First finger reinplantation in NTUH  

1973
  • First coronary areterial bypass graft operation in Taiwan 

1979
  • First successful partition of ischio-typed conjoined twin in Taiwan, also the second one in the world 

1980
  • First free flap transplantation  

1987
  • First heart transplantion in Taiwan

1989
  • First heterotopic heart transplantion in Asia.
  • Youngest heart transplantion in Asia
  • First liver transplantion in NTUH

1994
  • First successful Norwood's operation for left heart hypoplasia
  • First laparoscopic splenedtomy in Taiwan
  • First successful use of extracorporial membrane oxygenation (ECMO) technique

1995
  • First transthoracic video endoscopic electrocautery of sympathetic ganglia for hyperhidrosis palmaris in the world  
  • First resection of huge intracranial arterial aneurysm in hypothermic non-heartbeating patient using ECMO 
  • First single lung transplantation in Taiwan

1996
  • First Batista operation
  • First mini-laparoscopic cholecystectomy

1997
  • First percutaneous laser disc decompression for sciatica
  • First living-related liver transplantion in NTUH. 
  • First transthoracic endoscopic sympathectomy for angina in Taiwan. 
  • First successful live-related liver transplant. 

1998
  • The neurosurgical team successfully used ventriculoscope to perform third ventriculostomy in patient with hydrocephalus.

1999
  • Successful live-related liver transplant for the smallest body weight (5.5 kg) receipient.

2000
  • First pediatric laparoscopic fundoplication. 
  • First laparoscopic operation for morbid obesity. 
  • First successful use of artificial liver for bridgetoliver transplant. 
  • First heart transplant for patients operated with Batista Operation. 
  • First case of using centrifugal pump and roller pump left ventricular assist device for 31 days and successfully bridge to heart transplant in Asia. 
  • First successful liver transplant from non-heart-beat donor. 
  • First use of laparoscopic nephrectomy for live-related kidney transplant. 
  • Using near-infrared brain oximeter to measure pre- and post brain oxygenation in thoracic sympathectomy patients. receipient. 

2001
  • First successful pulmonary lobar transplant in Taiwan. 
  • First successful endoscope-assisted parathyroidectomy. 
  • Finish of study in clinical effect of addition of Glutamine to total paraenteral nutrition.  

2002
  • First total laparoscopic nephrectomy for live-related kidney transplant in Taiwan.

2003
  • The first successful bridge to heart transplant with HeartMate VE system in Taiwan. 
  • First successful case report of Eisenmenger syndrome treated with ECMO, open heart surgery, lung transplantation, and cardiac catheter intervention. 
  • First successful enteric drainage simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant. 
  • First and youngest (13 years old) simultaneous heart and kidney transplant. 
  • First organ transplant from donor whom previously is a receipient of brain-death organ. 
  • Breast sentinel lymph node biopsy. 
  • First use of staged dilation and stenting for long segmental tracheobronchial stenosis caused by tuberculosis.

2004
  • Pediatric heart transplantation using donor with body weight three times larger of the recipient. 
  • Live-related liver transplant for smallest-weighted child in Taiwan. 
  • First open heart surgery in Yulin branch, National Taiwan University Hospital. 
  • First successful ABO incompatible live-related kidney transplant.  

2005
  • Successful live-related kidney transplant for the youngest child (1 year and 8 months old) in Taiwan. 
  • Modifiec auto-transplantation technique for excision of left atrial malignant fibrohistocytoma. 
  • Successful live-related kidney transplant for two-pair old aged patients (donors' age, 67, 68; receipients' age, 68, 67). 
  • First successful bilateral lung transplantation combined with cardiac repair for atrial septal defect with severe pulmonary hypertension of Eisenmenger's syndrome in Taiwan. 
  • Completion of 200 liver transplants. 
  • Completion of 272heart transplant, the largest seriesin Asia. 
  • Successful treatment of a patient with deep burn over 97% of body surface. 
  • Coronary implantation and bidirectional coronary perfusion to treat anomalous left coronary artery from pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) with severe heart failure and mitral regurgitation. 
  • Trifucated graft technique for aortic arch replacement.  

2006
  • Ultra-long duration (240minutes)of cardiac resuscitation and ECMO support for fulminant myocarditis, and successful bridge to heart transplantation. 
  • New-Technique: Endovascular stent-graft operation for abdominal aortic aneurysm. 
  • First successful use of ECMO for bilateral lung transplantation in Taiwan. 
  • Laser and radiofrequency ablation for varicose vein. 
  • First successful bilateral lung transplant with the assist of ECMO. 
  • Set-up of research center for neuroblastoma. 
  • New-Technique: Endovascular stent-graft for Thoracic aortic aneurysm. 
  • Completion of 100 Gasless Laparoscope gastrointestinal operations.  

2007
  • Patent in Taiwan for gasless laparoscopic retractor. 
  • First successful live-related liver transplant inVietnam. 
  • Completion of more than 500 laparoscopiccolorectal surgery.  

2008
  • Set-up of CyberKnife Radiosurgery center for treatment of neoplasms inside and outside cranium. 
  • The neurosurgical team started to perform awake surgery for patients with brain tumor on or near important functional area. 
  • The neurosurgical team started to perform intra-operative brain stem cranial nerve nuclei mapping. 
  • Set up ECPR program and Publication of ECMO assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation in Lancet 1000 cases of ECMO experience in NTUH. 
  • A man survived 16 days without a heart while awaiting transplant surgery.

2009
  • Publication of Hybrid MIS surgery for 500 cases gastric cancer.
  • Publication of the third best grades of Mini-Whipple sugery in Asia.
  • Publication of the first successful Hybird Surgery.
  • Completion of laparoscopic esphagectomy and reconstruction.
  • Completion of the first Mini-thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer,
  • Publication of the frirst two laparoscopic Splenectomy.

2010
  • Publication of the first VNS Therapty Demipulse Model 103 Generator in 4 years old child.
  • Completion of the first SILS distal pancreatectomy in the world on May.
  • Publication of the first SILS distal pancreatectomy in Asia in 11/Jun/2010.
  • The heart transplantation team complete the first cross test positive heart transplantation in 12/Nov/2010.  
2011
  • Prof. Hong-Shiee Lai as Chairman of Surgery

          Carrying on well-founded tradition and excellence, Prof. Lai continued efforts as follows:

  1. Promoting excellence in surgical treatment and patient-center health care.
  2. Being actively involved in national health policy and the completion of healthcare quality.
  3. Enhancing teacher-training and teaching environment for medical students and residents.
  4. Encouraging transdisciplinary collaboration on cutting-edge technology and research, promoting NTUH-Surgery's academic status in Taiwan and the world.
  • Prof. Lai expected NTUH-Surgery colleagues to turn over a new leaf in the belief that “We are a good family”, working hard and serving patients as always.
2012
  • Dr. Jin-Shing Chen's team presented research results in best known medical journal, The Lancet, as a global practice guidelines for pneumothorax.

  • The Liver transplant team (consisted of Dr. Ray-Heng Hu, Dr.Yao-Ming Wu, Dr. Ming-Chih Ho and Dr. Cheng-Maw Ho) successfully performed robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery for living-related right liver donation. This turned over a new leaf for NTUH surgery.

  • The Renal transplant team performed 1,000 renal transplants from May 27th, 1968 to June 25th, 2012; 366 living-related cases and 634 cadaveric cases. 5-year survival rate reached 95.2%.

  • The Heart transplant team successfully implanted portable home ventricular assist device in end-stage patient with heart failure.
2014
  • Development of “Irreversible electroporation, IRE”a minimally invasive technique.

  • 2000 cases of ECMO usage, the largest quantity in Asia.

  • 500 cases of heart transplant, taking the first place in Asia.

  • November 24th, NTUH completed the 1000th case of da Vinci robotic-assisted surgery as an important milestone. The application covered seven areas: 229 of general surgery, 130 of thoracic surgery, 97 of colorectal surgery, 98 of cardiac surgery, 110 of otolaryngology, 263 of urology, and 73 of obstetrics and gynecology.

  • December 9th, on behalf of NTUH Da Vinci surgical and management team, NTUH-Surgery received National Innovation Award - Clinical Innovation by Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry.
2015
  • June 27th, Formosa Fun Coast dust explosion caused 15 deaths and injured 484, the largest number of injuries in the history of disasters in Taiwan since the earthquake on September 21, 1999. NTUH admitted 33 patients, with the average burn surface 43%, 21 of them were in ICU. By the end of November, all patients were discharged. With an average of 65 days for their stay, none of them were suffering from organ failure.

  • August, slide tracheoplasty on a premature infant was performed, the lightest weighted (1.6kg) case in the world.

  • The pediatric cardiac surgery team successfully operated on the lightest weighted (1.4kg) premature infant to treat tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), the first in Taiwan.

  • The Center for Obesity, Life Style and  Metabolic Surgery in the National Taiwan University Hospital was launched.
2017
  • Prof. Chiun-Sheng Huang as Chairman of Surgery.

All these contribute to NTUH's reputation for medical achievement. 

 

The Department of Surgery at National Taiwan University Hospital has a long history of being at the forefront of education, research, and clinical care and seek to improve in all areas of endeavor every year. The department serves as one of the major referral center in Taiwan, caring more than 15,000 inpatients per year. The department currently staffs 341 general beds plus 50 ICU beds and a burn center. There are approximately 50 full-time hospital–based faculty members and 66 practicing physicians who hold faculty appointments. The department also trains over 65 residents and fellows through residency programs in various divisions.

 

The department consists of 7 divisions. Each of which maintains a distinct profile of patients care, research and teaching. The department encompasses division of cardiovascular surgery, thoracic surgery, neurosurgery, general surgery, pediatric surgery, plastic surgery and colorectal surgery. These divisions provides preoperative evaluation, operative and nonoperative management and postoperative care for patients with the widest variety of surgical disorders. Each year, more than 10,000 operative procedures are completed. The mission of the department is to provide excellent patient care in an environment that stimulates its faculty, trainees and students to constantly improve their patient care, teaching, learning and investigation abilities. 

 

In the area of patient care, the department continues to demonstrate excellence and national leadership in many areas, including open heart surgery, vascular surgery, hepatobiliary-pancrease surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, breast surgery, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery and organ transplantation. Many efforts has been done to improve the outcome of the surgical patients. For example: ECMO was used to support a patient with heart failure before or after heart surgery; mini-laparoscope was used to minimize the wound and discomfort of patients receiving laparoscopic surgery; endoscopic technique was used in the field of neurosurgery to shorten the recovery time of the patients.

 

In the past, the department was known for its outstanding clinical base, featuring excellence in clinical care and teaching and was less prominent in the areas of clinical and basic research. Over the past few years, however, the department has increased dramatically the quality and quantity of its research effort. With about 24,000,000 NT dollars research grants more than 110 papers were published last year. A committee governing the usage of surgical laboratory was established last year. This help the staffs to do their research more easily and efficiently. The department now has laboratories for transplantation immunology, cell culture, molecular biology, animal experiment, pathology and physiology. Cooperation with other department in the medical school is encouraged to extend the field of surgical research. With respect to research opportunities, the department change the resident training course of some divisions for they can participate in a one or two year research program focused on the topic they are interested in.

 

In the area of teaching, the department has grew as significantly as the area of clinical service and research. The department present more than 10 conferences and seminars per week in different division which are opened to anyone who wishing to participate. A core course of 100 important surgical topics was designed for the 5th year medical student since 1998, which help the student to be familiar to the basic knowledge of surgery. One to one teaching gives the students more chances to know the problems which may be encountered during clinical services. Efforts to increase the number of affiliated hospitals provide student and resident chances of training in different kinds of surgical subjects.