AWARDEE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES PRIZE

LI JIESHOU

Abstract

Prof. Li Jieshou, a surgical scientist, was born in October 1924 in Liuyang, Hunan Province. He graduated from the National Zhongzheng Medical School in 1949. He is now the deputy dean of Medical Clinical School of Nanjing University, vice director of Nanjing Genreal Hospital of Nanjing Command, head of the Research Institute of General Surgery of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), and chief of Key Laboratory of Organs Transplantation of the PLA. He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1996.
In 1969, Prof. Li began the research on the treatment of enteric fistula. He explored developing regulations of enteric fistula, ways and means of controlling infection, managements of intensive care, nutrition support and operative techniques; put forward firstly the treating principle, which is “Obtaining spontaneous heal of fistula, definitive operation is final treatment”; designed some new methods and ideas for the management of enteric fistula. His group treated about 900 cases of patients with enteric fistula from 1971 to 1996, the cure rate is as high as 92.5%, the successful rate of surgical operation is 98.7%. These are the best results in the international reports.
Prof. Li is the founder of clinical parenteral and enteral nutrition in China. For treating enteric fistulas, he began to develop the research work on surgical nutrition support from 1971. The research work mainly focused on 3 aspects. The first is the research on methods and basis of surgical nutrition support. The second is research on the pathogeneses of TPN-induced cholestasis. He discoverd that excessive supply of non-protein calorie especially glucose calorie is one of the main cause of TPN-induced cholestasis in the world. The third is clinical practical research on nutritional support for critically ill patient. As a result of research work above, it is improved that the treating techniques of enteric fistulas, short bowel syndrome and acute necrotizing pancreatitis, managements of perioperative patients and other diseases. The cure rate is increased greatly.
The distinguished contribution of Prof. Li to our country is the research relating to small bowel transplantation (SBT). He has begun to concentrate his efforts on the study of animal small bowel transplantation since 1985, and established dog, rat and pig models of SBT. In 1992, the small bowel transplantation was firstly successfully performed on a group of pigs in China, on basis of which he performed a human case of total small bowel transplantion on March 12, 1994. This is the first sucessful SBT in China and Asia. The patient survived 310 days after operation. The second human case of total small bowel transplantation was performed on January 19, 1996. Till now this patient is in good condition.
Prof. Li has published about 300 papers and 8 books, participated in the writing of 21 books. He has won 11 awards including the Prize in National Scientific Assembly, National Awards of Progress in Science and Technology, Awards of Progress in Science and Technology from National Education Committee, and Prizes in Military Scientific Advancement.