The Department of Interventional Radiology at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital was established in the 1990s and is a comprehensive clinical department integrating medical care, scientific research, and teaching. The department currently has 17 interventional specialists, 6 technicians and 35 nurses. It is equipped with advanced domestic and international facilities, including 3 DSA operating rooms, a 32-slice spiral CT, color Doppler ultrasound, radiofrequency ablation devices, microwave therapy devices, a particle therapy planning system, a CT navigation system, and more. The department has 46 open beds and treats over 4,000 patients annually. The annual number of interventional procedures exceeds 13,000, positioning the department at the forefront of the field in China.
The department regularly provides interventional management for various benign and malignant tumors, with a more focuses on liver cancer treatment and provides comprehensive tumor therapies, including ablation, TACE, SIRT, HAIC, 125I radioactive seeds implantation, and a combination of interventional therapy with targeted therapy and immunotherapy. The department was one of the earliest in China to introduce combination therapies involving interventional techniques and systemic drug therapies, with one-year survival rates for advanced liver cancer patients surpassing 90%, and a three-year survival rate of approximately 65%. These results exceed those reported in the literature. The use of multimodal ablation, intraoperative CT, electromagnetic navigation, and other new technologies has enhanced the precision of interventional therapies and reduced the incidence of complications.
The department has pioneered the application of radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, microwave ablation, nanoknife therapy, and multimodal ablation. It has also engaged in scientific research addressing clinical problems, securing projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Zhejiang Provincial Medical and Health Technology Program.
The department provides a wide range of interventional treatments for various cancers and cancer-related diseases, including lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, head and neck malignancies, gynecological cancers, and more. Interventional procedures offered include catheter-directed chemotherapy/chemoembolization, CT-guided tumor biopsy, biliary drainage and stent implantation, 125I radioactive seeds implantation, bowel obstruction catheter insertion, vascular stent implantation, venous thrombectomy, portal vein shunting, gastrostomy, percutaneous vertebroplasty, SIRT, and many others. The department is also actively involved in the emergency treatment of major hemorrhage, with a success rate of over 90% in the interventional embolization of tumor-related and post-operative bleeding. It was the first in China to introduce bowel obstruction catheter insertion and presented a specialized report at the National Digestive Diseases Conference, attracting colleagues from across the country. The department has successfully treated over a thousand cases of bowel obstruction.
In the past five years, the department has received more than 30 major research grants, including from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Over 70 academic papers have been published, including more than 30 in SCI journals, and the department has authored or contributed to 11 academic books, including national textbooks. It holds eight national patents and nine utility model patents. The department has also led five clinical trials and participated in over 20 others, with results published in top journals such as Lancet Oncology, Journal of Hepatology, EClinicalMedicine, Clinical Cancer Research, and Liver Cancer. The department has contributed to the development of various interventional oncology guidelines and expert consensus.
Department members serve in leadership roles in national professional organizations, including as committee members. The department also serves as a training site for Ph.D. and Master’s students from Wenzhou Medical University, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, and other institutions, and is a postdoctoral training station.
As a National Training Base for Tumor Radiotherapy with Radioactive Particle Implantation and Tumor Ablation, the department trains over 20 national fellows each year. It has organized national-level workshops on the latest interventional oncology technologies and standardization for the past 10 years, training over 2,000 participants. In 2019, the department initiated the establishment of the Zhejiang Provincial Minimally Invasive Interventional Oncology Alliance, consisting of 89 hospitals, and the Chinese Tumor Minimally Invasive Interventional Innovation Community, with 11 domestic hospitals. Zhejiang Cancer Hospital serves as the chair and governing body of the alliance.
In 2023, the department successfully obtained approval for the "Innovative Interventional Oncology Techniques and Equipment Development" project from the Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center, a provincial-level platform for technological innovation. This accomplishment signifies the department’s leadership in the development of interventional medicine in Zhejiang Province.