Page 9 - CASA Bulletin 2022, 9(6) 增刊

this is what Prof. Liu had been talking about. And yet he made it. Prof. Liu had kept thinking
about improving anesthesia quality and how to alleviate the pain for patients. In 1964, he
advocated establishing the first post-anesthesia care unit in China, which aimed to lower
postoperative complications and death rate. To reduce the postoperative pain for patients and
enhance recovery after surgery, he was the first one in China to apply continuous epidural
anesthesia for postoperative analgesia. He invented continuous brachial plexus nerve block,
which was helpful for clinical operation. Up to now, many inventions of Prof. Liu are still widely
used, such as continuous epidural anesthesia for postoperative analgesia, continuous brachial
plexus nerve block, etc. Prof. Liu student, Prof. Shang-long Yao, who is now the Institute
Director of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine of Union Hospital, evaluated his
contribution like this: “Without Prof. Liu, there would be no today’s Department of
Anesthesiology, Wuhan Union Hospital. He is one of the greatest anesthesiologist in modern
China”.

Prof. Liu had an intense interest in reading books and was good at summing up. He believed
that anesthesiologists must master fundamental medical theories and rich clinical medical
knowledge and understand domestic and foreign scientific development to broaden their
horizons. He advocated a clinical training of anesthesiologists integrating theory with practice. In
1983, Prof. Liu was invited by People’s Medical Publishing House to edit “Modern
Anesthesiology”. Thus, he mobilized and organized experts and scholars across the country to
edit this book. Four years later, this book was finally published in October 1987. In 1990, this
book was awarded the first prize of National Outstanding Scientific and Technological Books.
After the first edition of “Modern Anesthesiology”, Prof. Liu actively edited the second edition
when he was aged 70 years old. Presently, this book has been the most authoritative reference
book of anesthesiology in China.

Prof. Liu always said, “Man must be content to all you own”. He did not care about
reputation, status, and money. He only cared about the development of anesthesiology. In 1984,
Prof. Liu was 62 years old, and he requested to retire from the top post for encouraging the
development of anesthesia discipline and the building of a talented team. He recommended Prof.
Bang-xiong Zeng as director of the Department of Anesthesiology, Wuhan Union Hospital
(Figure 4). Later Prof. Bang-xiong Zeng held the position as vice chairman of the Chinese
Society of Anesthesiology and Chairman of Anesthesia Branch of Hubei Medical Association.

Meanwhile, as a member of the editorial board for the Chinese Journal of Anesthesiology
and standing member of the Journal of Clinical Anesthesiology editorial board, Prof. Liu
recommended young and middle-aged in the department to join the editorial boards of
professional journals. In the process of editing “Modern Anesthesiology”, he focused on
cultivating the youth. He invited the youth in the Department of Anesthesiology to edit this book
while organizing famous experts all over the country to write this book.