On May 13, 2023 International Academic Week of West China Hospital on Perioperative Medicine, West China Anesthesiology Frontier Forum and 2023 Anesthesiology and Brain Science Summit was successfully held in Chengdu.

During the two-day conference, the medical workers from anesthesiology department,  ambulatory surgery center, pain department, emergency department, critical care medicine department, operating room and other related specialties discussed the progress of anesthesiology and basic clinical research, the frontier and hot issues in clinical work on the themes of “artificial intelligence, visualization technology, perioperative medicine”, by the means of “expert lectures, special reports, workshops, training courses and case sharing”. Experts and medical colleagues conducted discussions in Chengdu and gained a lot.

As an international event showcasing the hot spots of anesthesiology and reflecting the high academic level of anesthesiology, this conference demonstrated the latest anesthesia theories and technologies at home and abroad, broadened the international vision of anesthesia colleagues, contributed to accelerating the application and promotion of artificial intelligence, visualization technology and perioperative medicine in the field of anesthesia & analgesia and critical care, strengthened the construction of anesthesiology, and promoted the high-quality development of anesthesiology.

Branch Venue 1 

Ambulatory Surgery and Comfortable Medical Anesthesia

What kind of role should anesthesiologists assume in ambulatory surgery?

Prof. Wang Qiang of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University answered this question in his presentation with the topic of “Exploration of Combined Chinese and Western Medicine Anesthesia Strategies to Help Accelerate Recovery from Ambulatory Surgery”. He noted, “anesthesiologists should shift from focusing only on providing the best surgical conditions and postoperative analgesia to becoming perioperative physicians and managers who assume the management of ambulatory surgery”.

Prof. Wang Qiang, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University

At the branch venue of Ambulatory Surgery and Comfortable Medical Anesthesia, several special presentations were shared, with the topics of “Safety and Management of Comfortable Medical Care”, “Practice of Refined Management of Ambulatory Surgery”, “Leveraging the Informationization Construction of Anesthesia Clinic to Promote the Collaborative Development of Medical Education and Research in the Discipline”, “Standardized Management of Ambulatory  Surgery”, “Anesthesia Management and Clinical Research of Bronchoscopic Treatment”, “Anesthesia Management of Turning Thoracoscopic Pulmonary Surgery into Ambulatory Surgery”, etc. These presentations discussed the hot issues of ambulatory surgery, comfortable medical industry and anesthesiology outpatient clinic from various aspects such as informationization construction and industry standardized management, systematically analyzed and summarized the difficulties encountered by anesthesiologists in ambulatory surgery, and promoted the high-quality development of anesthesiology and ambulatory surgery.

Branch Venue 2

Pain Diagnosis and Treatment

“Eliminating pain is a basic human right for all patients.” said Prof. Song Li from West China Hospital of Sichuan University during her presentation themed “Cancerous Visceral Pain”.

Prof. Song Li, West China Hospital, Sichuan University

In order to further discuss the hot and difficult issues of pain diagnosis and treatment and comprehensively demonstrate the latest progress of pain diagnosis and treatment, at the branch venue of Pain Diagnosis And Treatment, special lectures were given with the topics of “Pain Clinical Research Design”, “Architecture and Practice of Biomedical Data Center”, “Neuroimmunomodulation Therapy in Pain Management”, “Application of Short-Term Spinal Cord Electrical Stimulation in Herpes Zoster Pain”, “CT-Guided Trigeminal Balloon Compression under Local Anesthesia” and “Cancerous Visceral Pain”, which provided new ideas of treatment for the pain department colleagues and promoted the high-quality development of pain diagnosis and treatment.

Branch Venue 3 

Specialized Nursing

Group photo of participants at the branch venue of Specialized Nursing

The branch venue of Specialized Nursing kicked off with the introduction to the development of clinical anesthesia nursing research, followed by the presentations on the construction of high-quality anesthesia nursing team and how should nurses in the operating room carry out research and innovation. In addition, the hot academic topics including intraoperative acquired pressure injury prevention, application and care of nerve electrical stimulation technology in pain, and pain assessment were discusses, helping West China Hospital’s nursing effort advance to higher quality and promoting the fine management of specialized nursing in the operating room.

Branch Venue 4 

Basic Research

At the branch venue of  basic research,  several hot academic issues were covered, including phylogenetic study of heart failure, application of intravenous lidocaine infusion in perioperative analgesia, role of mitochondrial calcium regulation in cardiac pathophysiology, branched-chain amino acid metabolism and disease, role and mechanism of mucoside D in the treatment of metabolic syndrome, potential regulatory mechanism of P21-activated kinase (PAK) on cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias, etc., demonstrating the latest clinical technology applications and bringing far-reaching impact on the development of anesthesia diagnosis and treatment.

Branch Venue 5

Perioperative Innovative Technology

Innovation is the first driving force leading development, and the development of perioperative medicine cannot be separated from innovation.

The branch venue of Perioperative Innovative Technology covered such hot academic issues as new technology of perioperative analgesia for hip and knee arthroplasty, malignant hyperthermia and its remote emergency, application of bedside ultrasound in emergency critical patients, innovation of extracorporeal circulation and patient prognosis, system construction of intraoperative protective ventilation strategy, problems and management of difficult airway in emergency anesthesia, which greatly popularized the latest technology application of perioperative diagnosis and treatment and brought far-reaching impact on the development of perioperative medicine.

Branch Venue 6

Perioperative AI

What can artificial intelligence do in the perioperative period? Prof. Zhu Tao from West China Hospital of Sichuan University concluded in his presentation, “AI can effectively predict surgery duration, optimize surgery scheduling, equalize operating room running time, provide utilization, and shorten the waiting time from patient admission to surgery before surgery. The 'smart cockpit' can provide effective risk warning intraoperatively. Postoperatively, it allows for intelligent analgesic management and reduces postoperative referrals to anesthesiology department and pain departments through the 'Acute Pain Virtual Ward', making postoperative follow-up easier and more convenient.”

Prof. Zhu Tao, West China Hospital, Sichuan University

At the branch venue of Perioperative AI,  the special presentations were shared with the themes of “Hypotension Prediction Based on Machine Learning Algorithm”, “Optimization of Pain Management in West China Hospital - How to Carry out Comprehensive Pain Management”, “Construction and Application of Anesthesia Information System”, "”Clinical Application of Hypotension Prediction Index”, “Refined Management of Adverse Events”, “Progress of Research on Early Warning of Perioperative Adverse Events - Taking MACEs as an Example”, “Research on Perioperative Big Data Governance and Algorithm”, “Application of Translational Informatics in Anesthesiology”, “Opportunities and Challenges of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence on Anesthesiology Research” , which explored the application and practice of AI in perioperative medicine, strengthened the informatization construction of perioperative medicine, and accelerated the development of perioperative medicine.

Branch Venue 7

Emergency Critical Care

Discussion by Participants of the Branch Venue of Emergency Critical Care

At the Branch Venue of Emergency Critical Care, the participants, starting from how to find research directions, discussed the application of ultrasound technology, visualization technology and EIT in emergency critical care treatment. The topics discussed here included “Anesthesia Strategy Measurement for Patients with Giant Mediastinal Tumors”, “Theory and Practice of Consciousness State Monitoring”, “Visualization and Trauma Airway Management, Reflections on Learning, Application and Training of Acute Critical Care Ultrasound”, “Making Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Visible —Progress of Application of Ultrasound in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation”, “Practical Process of Critical Care Visualization”, “Cerebral Perfusion: Visual Assessment of Pressure and Resistance”, which helped the emergency medicine of West China Hospital to move forward to higher quality and promote the development of informationization of critical care treatment.

Branch Venue 8

2023 Anesthesiology and Brain Science Summit

Group photo of participants at 2023 Anesthesiology and Brain Science Summit

This year’s Anesthesiology and Brain Science Summit invited top scholars in China to discuss 13 topics, including “Clinical Demand-oriented Creation of Good Drugs”, “Research on the Mechanism of Central Neural Circuits in Chronic Pain”, “Glucose Metabolism Disorders and Alzheimer's Disease”, “Core Symptoms of Autism and Synaptic Plasticity”, “TRPM2 Channels and Neurological Diseases”, “Biological Rhythm Disorders in Alzheimer's Disease”, to promote the exchange and collaboration between anesthesiology and brain science, help the innovative development of  anesthesiology and brain Science in West China Hospital, and contribute more strength of West China Hospital to promote the beautiful vision of building a community of human destiny!

Online platform

West China Hospital Anesthesia Cloud College

In order to strengthen the communication between anesthesiologists across the country and promote the development of anesthesiology, the Department of Anesthesiology of West China Hospital also launched the West China Hospital Anesthesia Cloud College.

West China Hospital Anesthesia Cloud College gathers 30,000+ anesthesia doctors, covering 5 major sections: live conference, discussion and Q&A, course learning, online examination, and physical books, providing a platform for anesthesia doctors nationwide to study courses, attend training and assessment, and discuss cases. Through this platform, anesthesiologists around the country can also reach multidisciplinary experts at home and abroad to conduct online academic exchanges, interactive Q&A, book sales, quarterly forums, academic forums and other activities every Sunday evening from 19:30-21:30, so as to learn about the latest anesthesia theory and anesthesia technology and help their own development.

Special activity

After the opening ceremony, special reports and lectures, a special activity of book signing by the editor-in-chief of Anesthesiology (2nd edition) was held at the main venue.

The booking signing by the two “academic stars” Prof. Liu Jin from West China Hospital of Sichuan University and Prof. Xiong Lize, President of Shanghai Fourth People's Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, aroused a warm response and wide participation among the attendees.

Concluding Review and Prospect

At this point, 2023 International Academic Week of West China Hospital on Perioperative Medicine, West China Anesthesiology Frontier Forum and 2023 Anesthesiology and Brain Science Summit came to a successful conclusion!

The gratitude goes to the leaders at all levels and all walks of life for their full support to this conference! The gratitude also goes to all the experts and scholars who gave their wisdom to the conference without reservation! The gratitude also goes to all the participants for their hard work and dedication to the success of this conference!

Since its beginning in 1978, the Department of Anesthesiology of West China Hospital has gone through 45 years of hardship and become one of the important leading units in the discipline of anesthesiology in China. Furthermore, the department has been ranked first in the national reputation ranking of anesthesia specialty by Fudan University for 13 consecutive years and won the first place in the specialty of anesthesiology in Chinese Hospital Science and Technology Evaluation Metrics (STEM) for 3 consecutive years, contributing to the development of anesthesiology in China.

The times have given good opportunities for the development of anesthesiology, and in the future, the Department of Anesthesiology of West China Hospital will continue to fulfill its mission and keep its original intention, improve the enthusiasm and professionalism of medical personnel in the fields of anesthesia, pain, emergency medicine and critical care medicine, make continuous efforts in the promotion of new technologies and new models of medical management, promote the continuous progress of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine, and contribute more to the realization of the Healthy China strategy!