Reporter interviewed Professor Xu who had just returned from a trip to Europe. According to him, the trip had significantly promoted the good name of Fuda Cancer Hospital overseas. But most importantly, Professor Xu felt that both he and Dr. Niu had learnt a lot from the trip.

Firstly, he realized that the size and history of a hospital is not of great importance but rather it is its special features and its trade mark that count. Fuda Cancer Hospital is only a small hospital of seven years old.
For it to survive in Guangzhou, where there are many hospitals, is a remarkable feat by itself. But the hospital has achieved much more than survival; it has managed to go out of China to South East Asia and now to developed countries.
This would not be possible if not for its expertise in cryosurgery. On the first morning of the 14th World Congress of Cryosurgery held in Beijing from 4th to 6th November, 2008, Professor Xu was invited to give a speech on the theme of the congress. Participants at the congress were amazed that 3580 cases of cryosurgery operations had been carried out in Fuda Cancer Hospital. This was 2000 cases more than the hospital in second place in China.
The chairman of the congress praised very highly of this remarkable achievement. During the seminar on Advances in Cancer Treatments held in Jakarta on 13th March 2008, Dr. Niu gave a live percutaneous cryosurgery operation on a lung cancer patient.
The whole proceeding was witnessed by Dr. Franco. Dr. Franco was so impressed that he made a special invitation to professor Xu and Dr. Niu to make a trip to Europe to share their experience on cryosurgery with medical professionals in western countries.

Secondly, Professor realized that they must have an open mind. In recent years many hospitals, both in China and from overseas, have made study visits to Fuda Cancer Hospital. Initially Professor Xu was worried that the hospital might lose its competitive edge after these hospitals had picked up the techniques from them. Well, the hospital did not lose out.
On the contrary, this had made them better known. Besides entertaining medical professionals from tens of hospitals in China, Professor Xu also invited doctors from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia to visit the hospital.
These doctors were briefed on cryosurgery live cryosurgery operations were performed in front of them. Recently Fuda Cancer Hospital received accreditation from International Society of Cryosurgery.
It has established the Asia Pacific Cryosurgery Institute to provide training course on cryosurgery to medical professionals from the Asia Pacific region. The Institute is set up to impart knowledge and cryosurgery techniques to fellow doctors without any reservation.

Thirdly, Professor Xu realized that all hospitals especially young hospitals like Fuda Cancer Hospital must continue to upgrade themselves and acquire new knowledge. They must not be contented with what they have achieved.
During this trip Professor Xu and Dr. Niu were invited to join the local specialists to perform cryosurgery operations. They were very impressed by the professionalism, discipline and dedication they put into their jobs.
These specialists stressed on the importance of following standardized operation procedures. In their prognosis and treatments, these doctors would look into every detail fully taking into consideration the interests of the patients. Professor Xu and Dr. Niu benefited greatly from this experience.
During the trip they also explored the possibility of future cooperation with overseas specialists. This cooperation will be based on a two-pronged approach; one on abalation fundamentals and the other on clinical trials.
Initially, studies how the number of cycles of freezing and thawing is related to the treatment’s effectiveness on lung cancer. Dr. Franco will go to Quangzhou on 10th May 2008 to conduct the experiments on animals.

Fourthly, Professor Xu said, for a hospital in China to gain international recognition, it must adopt and follow the international standards. As such they will make unscheduled visits overseas to partner with overseas hospitals in providing treatments to patients. Besides, they will invite medical professionals from overseas to share with them the latest development in diagnosis and treatments for cancer patients.

(By Wei Na, Reporter of Asia Pacific Cryosurgery Institute Website.)