The Pancreatic Surgery Department of Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,is one of the earliest pancreatic disease diagnosis and treatment centers in China, and has now developed into a pancreatic disease research institute, with general wards, intensive care units, endoscopic treatment rooms and laboratories. At present, the department has 72 licensed beds, and receives 2,000 patients annually, among which more than 1,200 patients are treated for pancreatic lesions, becoming one of the largest diagnosis and treatment centers for pancreatic and related diseases in China.

In recent years, under the management of Professor WU Heshui, Director of the Institute of Pancreatic Surgery and Director of the Pancreatic Surgery Department, and with the full support of the former Director, Professor WANG Chunyou, the pancreatic centre leads all medical staff constantly develop new business and new technology. The department provides individualized treatment of severe acute pancreatitis on the basis of its extensive expertise in the treatment of severe acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic tumors, and adopts organ support treatment, nutritional treatment, accurate minimally invasive drainage of infectious necrotic tissue and other methods for different pathological stages of severe acute pancreatitis, greatly improving the success rate of treatment of severe acute pancreatitis. Because of that, the mortality rate of severe acute pancreatitis has been controlled below 5%. It research results have won the Hubei Province Science and Technology Progress Award and the second prize of China Medical Science and Technology Progress Award respectively. 

In the treatment and research of chronic pancreatitis, the department emphasizes early endoscopic therapy to dredge the obstructed biliary and pancreatic duct as far as possible, and to restore and preserve the function of the pancreas to the maximum extent. The department has established a sound follow-up and tracking system, and the main pancreatic duct lithotomy and duodenal-preserving pancreatectomy are performed as soon as possible for those who have failed in endoscopic therapy, which improves the cure rate of the disease and greatly reduces the malignant rate of chronic pancreatitis. In addition, it leads the domestic basic research on the transformation of inflammatory cancer, and has published dozens of papers in high-level journals, and obtained three NSFC funded projects. 

In view of pancreatic cancer, the Pancreatic Surgery has established a strong scientific research team, specializing in the basic and clinical research of pancreatic cancer. In May 2019, the department cooperated with the Pancreas Center of the University of Heidelberg to establish the "Sino-German Laboratory of Personalized Medicine for Pancreatic Cancer", which focuses on the individualized research of middle and advanced pancreatic cancer, especially the immunotherapy research, and has achieved initial results. Over the years, the department has obtained 12 NSFC funded projects for pancreatic cancer research, and published more than 120 papers, among which more than 90 papers are indexed by SCI, and the research results have won the Hubei Province Science and Technology Progress Award. Besides, in October 2017, Professor Wu Heshui, Director of the Pancreatic Surgery Department, gathered top experts in oncology, digestion, radiology, pathology, endocrinology and other disciplines to set up a multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment (MDT) clinic for complex pancreatic diseases and a multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment team for pancreatic malignant tumors. Experts regularly carry out consultations on intractable pancreatic diseases and formulate scientific and reasonable treatment plans, which greatly improves the diagnosis and treatment effect of pancreatic diseases, especially pancreatic malignant tumors, reduces surgical complications and increases the survival and cure rate of malignant tumors. Over recent years, the Pancreatic Surgery Department has made full use of the concept of rapid surgical recovery. In December 2014, the department took the lead in China to set up a Pancreatic Surgery Pain Care and Rapid Rehabilitation Ward, and work together with the Anaesthesiology Department, the Pain Medicine Department and the Rehabilitation Department to carry out a series of effective analgesic and rehabilitation measures, as well as the laparoscopic and robot-assisted pancreaticoduodenectomy, spleen-preserved distal pancreatectomy, distal pancreatectomy, local resection of benign and low grade malignant tumor of pancreas, and laparoscopic palliative surgery for advanced pancreatic cancer, which greatly improves the recovery rate of patients. Over recent years, in addition to the active adoption of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced pancreatic cancer, the department has also firstly introduced and implemented the irreversible electroablation (nano knife) therapy in central China, which improves the therapeutic effect of locally advanced pancreatic cancer.