BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF RHEUMATOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

IN PEKING UNIVERSITY THIRD HOSPITAL

The rheumatology and immunology department of Peking University Third Hospital was established in October 2006. At present, the department is comprised of eleven staffs with three professors, one post-doctoral professor, three medical doctors and three medical masters. There are more than twenty thousand outpatients visiting per year and twelve inpatient beds in the department. The rheumatology and immunology department specializesin diagnosing and treating all kinds of rheumatic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, seronegative spondyloarthropathies, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, polymyositis or dermatomyositis, Sjögren syndrome, Behcet’s disease, various kinds of systemic vasculitis, fibromyalgia syndrome and relapsing polychondritis etc. The diagnostic and therapeutic techniques of the department have been in the leading position of medical progress nationwide. Cooperated with the examining laboratory, the department could accomplish examines including antinuclear antibody (ANA), antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA), anticardiolipin antibody, anti-β2 glucoprotein antibody and anti-CCP antibody etc. Some new therapeutic approaches such as immunoadsorption and stem cell transplantationin treating rheumatic diseases are in preparation. Whole day clinics on weekdays and special weekend clinics have been set up to satisfy the outpatients’demands better.