A Life Relay Spanning Thousands of Miles: Our Hospital Successfully Performs ERCP Surgery on a 6-Year-Old Child from Xinjiang, Setting a New Record!

Recently, a life relay spanning thousands of miles was successfully completed at our hospital. A 6-year-old child from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, suffering from "choledocholithiasis with acute pancreatitis," sought medical treatment at our hospital after a long journey. On October 24, 2025, Dr. Zhao Guangyuan, Director of the Third Department of Gastroenterology, personally performed a successful endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) stone removal surgery on this young child. This was not only a highly complex minimally invasive surgery but also set a new record for the youngest patient to ever undergo ERCP surgery at our hospital, showcasing our hospital's strong comprehensive capabilities as a regional medical center in handling difficult and critical cases.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

The Call for Life from Xinjiang to Our Hospital

On October 20, 2025, this 6-year-old child was admitted to the Seventh People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region due to severe abdominal pain and was diagnosed with "choledocholithiasis with acute pancreatitis." Although the local hospital provided symptomatic treatment, the condition showed little significant improvement. The blockage of the common bile duct by stones caused obstructive jaundice and dangerous pancreatitis. For a young life, every minute of delay meant increasing risk.

Seeking the best possible treatment, the child's family resolutely decided to travel thousands of miles by plane to our hospital. This profound trust was placed in the hands of our hospital's Second Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery.

Multidisciplinary Collaboration (MDT)

Precise Evaluation, Opening a Green Channel for Life

After the child was admitted, the team of Associate Chief Physician Xing Wenjun and Attending Physician Cai Qiang from the Second Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery attached great importance to the case and promptly arranged comprehensive examinations and tests. Given the child's young age, complex and critical condition, our hospital immediately activated the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) mechanism.

Experts from the Third Department of Gastroenterology, the Second Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Anesthesiology Department, and other disciplines, after urgent and meticulous discussion, unanimously agreed that the ERCP minimally invasive technique was the best option to relieve the obstruction with minimal trauma. After confirming the child met the surgical indications, the hospital immediately decided to: open a green channel, racing against time for life. The surgery was scheduled for October 24.

Anesthesiologists and nurses played cartoons to soothe the child's anxiety.

Braving the Forbidden Zone

The Pinnacle of Skill in Millimeter-Level Operations

ERCP surgery itself is considered a "peak" in endoscopic technology. Performing it in a 6-year-old child with delicate organs and fine ducts is akin to navigating a "forbidden zone of life," posing an extreme test of the chief surgeon's skill, experience, and psychological fortitude.

On the day of the surgery, Dr. Zhao Guangyuan, Director of the Third Department of Gastroenterology, relying on his proficient and exquisite endoscopic skills, and with the precise support of the anesthesia team, steadily, accurately, gently, and swiftly completed a series of highly difficult procedures: cannulation, contrast imaging, sphincterotomy, stone removal... The "culprit" impacted in the child's common bile duct was successfully removed, and the flow of blocked bile and pancreatic juice was instantly restored. The procedure was smooth, with almost no bleeding during the surgery. The success of this surgery is vivid proof of our hospital's gastroenterology endoscopy technology reaching a new level.

Building Dreams with Benevolence: Creating Miracles of Life with Technology and Care

This successful treatment was a perfect combination of technology, benevolence, and efficiency. It demonstrated the mature model of our hospital's Multidisciplinary Collaboration (MDT) in handling complex cases, reflected the decisive significance of our hospital's "green channel" for critically ill patients, and highlighted the professional spirit of our medical staff who dare to take responsibility and courageously scale the peaks of technical expertise.

From the northwestern border region to the heart of North China, this journey for medical care spanning thousands of miles finally reached a successful conclusion at our hospital. We not only cured a young patient's illness but also safeguarded the hope of a family. In the future, our hospital will continue to uphold the principle of "putting patients at the center," using the most advanced technology and the warmest care to protect the life and health of more patients.

Introduction to the Third Department of Gastroenterology

The Third Department of Gastroenterology has 6 physicians and 8 nurses, including 1 Associate Chief Physician, 3 Attending Physicians, and 2 Resident Physicians. It has 42 open beds.

The department currently diagnoses and treats common and frequently-occurring digestive diseases such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, gastritis, peptic ulcers, gastrointestinal bleeding, functional gastrointestinal diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, etc. It is also particularly skilled in treating gastrointestinal malignancies such as esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, and colorectal cancer, especially early-stage gastrointestinal cancers.

Currently, the department has successfully performed: dilation for benign and malignant strictures and stent placement, esophageal dilation and stent placement, endoscopic repair of esophageal tracheal/mediastinal fistulas, endoscopic variceal sclerotherapy/ligation, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, endoscopic treatment of gastric and colonic polyps, endoscopic treatment of early gastrointestinal cancers (EMR, ESD), endoscopic sclerotherapy and ligation for esophageal and gastric varices, submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection (STER), peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy (G-POEM), endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), endoscopic ultrasound-guided puncture and therapy for biliary and pancreatic diseases, and other endoscopic techniques.

It also includes the diagnosis of malignant tumors such as gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, gallbladder cancer, and lymphoma, as well as neoadjuvant chemotherapy, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, radical chemotherapy for mid-advanced stage tumors, comprehensive treatment for late-stage metastatic tumors, biological immunotherapy, endocrine therapy, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), local drug injection therapy.

Additionally, it offers small bowel enteroscopy and endoscopic therapy, capsule endoscopy, and other procedures.