The Anesthesiology Department of SAHZU was established in 1969. It was the first independently organized anesthetic unit, and has played an important role in founding the Anesthesiology branch of Zhejiang Medical Association. It was the first anesthesia quality management agency affiliated with the Zhejiang Anesthesia Quality Control Center in 1989.

It creates a perioperative acute pain management system which emphasizes the use of multimodal analgesia, and founded a painless endoscopy center adhering to international standards. It has 60 laminar flow operation rooms (36 in Jiefang Campus and 24 in Binjiang Campus), one hybrid OR and another 14 ORs for eye surgery. It serves over 50,000 surgical, critically ill and emergency patients annually.

The department offers its service in endoscopy, day surgery and pain management too.

The endoscopy center, founded in March 2013, occupies over 2,000 square meters. Multiple kinds of endoscopy procedures including gastro-endoscopy, hysteroscopy, colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, and cystoscopy etc., are performed at the center every day. It also provides services for minor operations such as operative abortion, ERCP  (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography) treatment, and high energy focused ultrasonic knife treatment. The staff at the center maintain standard sterile management, follow strict hospital infection control rules and operate the post-anesthesia care unit in the exact same way as that in the central OR to ensure patients’ safety.

Day surgery service was started at SAHZU in Nov. 2011. The service has greatly shortened hospital stay, reduced the incidence of hospital acquired healthcare infections, and maximized the use of medical resources while minimizing costs.

Pain Management Division was opened in 1996. It started off as a pain clinic for outpatient service combined with ward and laboratory. Acute and chronic pain treatment and research were developed at the division later on, making it a Key Innovative Center of Pain Medicine in Zhejiang Province. The division initiated a series of advanced pain treatments, such as CT-guided thoracic/lumbar sympathetic nerve radio frequency (RF) modulation, semilunar ganglion mutilation under navigation, percutaneous spinal cord electric stimulation implantation, and implantation of an intrathecal drug infusion system.

SAHZU Anesthesiology is taking the lead in intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, intraoperative abdominal aorta balloon block technology, and awake craniotomy anesthesia. Its standardized perioperative blood management and application of visual technology such as transesophageal echocardiography have attracted the attention of a large number of domestic and international colleagues who have come to visit and study.

The department is approved by Zhejiang University for master degree and doctorate level training and research. It is the only overseas training base for anesthesiology residents from the University of California Los Angeles. Nearly 100 research projects have been conducted or are ongoing now by SAHZU Anesthesiologists. Hundreds of scientific papers have been published. Because of its advanced management and talent training, the department has earned itself a great reputation among its domestic and international colleagues.

Dr. YAN Min, professor and chair of SAHZU Anesthesiology, is a committee member of Chinese Society of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine of the Chinese Medical Association, the first Chairman of Zhejiang Province Pain Society, the 9th Chairman of the Zhejiang Province Anesthesiology Branch and Vice Director of the Clinical Anesthesia Quality Control Center.