Page 9 - 教授千古 - 1 (5)

In the 1950s, Prof. Liu chose the thoracic surgery
department as his profession when he returned to Wuhan.
After witnessing anesthetic techniques’ backwardness, Prof.
Liu decided to be an anesthetist and started from almost
nothing. After that, Prof. Liu devoted himself to
anesthesiology and fought for it all his life. In 1954, Prof.
Liu came to Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai and studied
from Prof. Jue Wu, one of China’s modern anesthesiology
and clinical pharmacology. After returning from Shanghai,
he pioneered the anesthesiology department in Wuhan Union
Hospital without a single halt. Since 1955, Prof. Liu had
been mainly engaged in anesthesia. He gradually grew into a
professor and director of the Department of Anesthesiology
from an ordinary anesthetist through unremitting efforts. Professor Jun-jie Liu in the college
In clinical practice, Prof. Liu particularly stressed anesthesiologist’ sense of responsibility
for the occupation. He believed that anesthesiologists should always consider patients and attach
great importance to patient’ perioperative safety. “Never be content with what you have done”,
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

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