The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School

Center Strength

Founded in 1997, Department of Spine Surgery is one of the best spine centers in China and one of the best scoliosis centers in the world. More than 2500 surgeries are performed per year, of which around 800 are scoliosis surgeries. During last 20 years, over 10000 deformity cases of various etiology have been successfully treated with excellent surgical outcomes and reasonable complication rate. In addition to high surgical volume, the number of scoliosis patients with bracing treatment is also the largest in China. Over 16000 patients has been treated with bracing and more than 900 patients are still on the way of bracing.

Thanks to the reputation around the world, our center has hosted international conferences such as the SRS worldwide course and the EuroSpine international course. Our center is also the host for SRS travelling fellows, and accommodating regularly national and international fellows.

There are two scoliosis data-base, one being for operated cases, the other being for bracing cases, available for clinical study.

Center description

At Spine Surgery of Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, our goal is to translate medical breakthroughs, such as inter-operative navigation and Duet screws, into new ways of treating spinal conditions. With its state-of-the-art technology, large patient volume, and special “bench to bedside” teams of doctors and scientists, we can swiftly translate scientific breakthroughs into clinical treatments. Each year, we publish an average of 45 peer-reviewed international articles, connecting basic science with clinical researches to quickly bring innovations to reach patients. Bearing in mind the idea of innovation, the team has initiated and developed new techniques such as sequential correction for severe and rigid spine deformity. Dr. Qiu also proposed the Nanjing coronal imbalance classification for adult spinal deformity, which has been acknowledged by different international spine communities.

Our spine center is equipped with O-arm intraoperative navigation system, intra-operative neuromonitoring devices, the Ultrasonic Bone Scalpel and the full-body imaging system (EOS® system).

Most frequent pathologies

Spine deformity, especially scoliosis, including pediatric and adult. All kinds of scoliosis correction surgery, all ages covered.

Most frequent surgical procedures

All kinds of scoliosis correction surgery from basic correction techniques to advanced osteotomy techniques, all ages covered.

Number of cases 

Types of Fellowships

• National fellowship
• Regional and international fellowship
• Short-term fellowships (2 weeks to 6 months)
• Long-term fellowships (6 to 12 months)
• Fellow can scrub-in and assist scrubbed in

Average number of surgeries per week in the OR for the fellow: 40