Wang Nana  Pathology 
 

As the date of repatriation approaches, my German study is coming to an end. This year, I had the privilege of participating in the selection of Sino-German research projects organized by DCTA. In March, I came to the beautiful eastern city of Magdeburg. Magdeburg is located on the banks of the Elbe River, near the confluence of the Sino-German Canal and the Elbe-Haver Canal, and is the capital of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Magdeburg has a long history and is one of the most important medieva l cities in Europe. Magdeburg is the diocese of the Bishop of Christianity and Catholicism and has two universities. One of them is Universität Magdeburg, where I studied and worked. The University of Magdeburg is known as Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg (OVGU ) and is one of the youngest universities in Germany. The OVGU currently has 9 colleges and approximately 14,000 students. It is located in the heart of Magdeburg City, with 3 campuses, a main campus, a literary and academy district, and a medical college campus (including a university affiliated hospital). During the three months of my stay in Germany, I completed my advanced studies at the University Hospital of Magdeburg University. 

I. Clinical work 

The Affiliated Hospital of the Medical University of Magdeburg University is a general hospital integrating clinical work, teaching, scientific research and prevention. It is also a major center of medical care in Saxony-Anhalt. Pathology research institute includes routine diagnosis areas, technology rooms, cryopathology room, immunohistochemistry laboratory, cytopathology laboratory, molecular pathology laboratory, and so on. Due to the local population, the Institute’s annual workload is about 15,000, and “fine” and “rigorous” are the biggest features of their work. This feature is reflected in the process of drawing specimens: When surgical specimens and biopsy specimens are sent to the pathology department in clinical practice, after careful and meticulous check and registration work, the next task is to fix the specimens. The instrument is cut open, unfolded and fixed with a pin on a flat plate; and some specimens are marked with different colors for cutting edges; each profile of the drawn material is illustrated on paper. The pathology certificate issued for each patient is detailed, with written and voice records, which ensures the rigorous and objective pathological diagnosis. The department will conduct a routine case discussion every day at noon. The discussion will be chaired by the director personally. Each resident doctor can submit his difficult-to-diagnose case to the seminar. A senior doctor is responsible for the case analysis, and asks questions for the residents to discuss. Finally, the director summarizes. Prof. Haybaeck is the director of the Institute of Pathology at the Medical University of Magdeburg. He is a young pathologist who specializes in liver pathology. In addition to pathological diagnosis, he is also busy with many other things related to pathology and research groups. In the course of further studies, whenever I have any questions about general pathology and liver pathology, I will ask him and other teachers for help. ��

 

After three months of training, my pathological diagnostic skills have greatly improved. The most learned here is liver pathological diagnosis. Liver pathology is divided into neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases. At the Institute of Pathology, many cases of liver tumors are diagnosed every day. Such cases are generally not difficult to diagnose according to WHO classification of diagnostic criteria. However, it is not easy to make accurate pathological diagnosis of non-neoplastic diseases of the liver, which is also the main research direction of professor. Here pathologists often pass specific staining such as Giemsa staining, PAS staining, and Congo red staining. It can help doctors find the cause of inflammation. Special staining is widely used for pathological diagnosis. For example, PAS staining is used to test glycogen while Congo red stains amyloid. It can help pathologists distinguish and diagnose some diseases. The Institute of Pathology is also conducting molecular pathology testing because individualized medicine is a trend in the development of medicine in the world. There is no significant difference between the institute and the hospital in the design and equipment of the molecular pathology laboratory. 

��Teaching

As an important department in the hospital, the Institute of Pathology also undertakes pathological teaching at the Medical University of Magdeburg University. Trainees include medical students, residents and fellows. During the training period, I applied to observe the classroom teaching twice. I can see from the classroom contents that the teacher is rigorous in preparation for the class before class. The emphasis of the lesson is clear. This is an important point for me to learn from the teachers here when I return to China. In addition to teaching medicine to medical students, the department also pays attention to the training of resident physicians. There are 5 resident physicians in the department. Apart from daily seminars held at noon every day, they also have classes every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 7:30 in the morning. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the Multidisciplinary Case Conference (MCC), each person can choose their own direction of interest to participate in different MDTs. Through this process, the pathologist can better participate in the clinical work and give a fuller play to the role of “doctor’s doctor”.

 

�� Research

In Saxony-Anhalt, the University of Magdeburg is not only a major center of health care, but also an important scientific research center. The Institute of Pathology is also responsible for important research tasks. The pathologists working here also have to undertake the task of scientific research. In terms of scientific research, there are also two categories. One is equivalent to specialized production and research. Most of these people are in graduate programs, and the other is using their own spare time to do research. Those who are interested in doing research in a certain area can apply for certain scientific research to the department within a certain period (generally three years), and to eva luate the completion of scientific research in the form of SCI paper publication. If the cycle is over, and there is still no result, it will affect the application of future research time.

 

There is still a lot of knowledge that I need to learn, involve, and refine. I will bring advanced medical technology I learned in Germany to my hospital, apply it to the future clinical, teaching and research work. Three months of life is short. Although I am far away from my country, colleagues and family, I had a pleasant and fruitful time at the Institute of Pathology, Medical University of Magdeburg University. I made a lot of friends here and they also gave me a lot of help. Finally, I would like to thank DCTA and my hospital for providing such a valuable learning opportunity.