Penghu residents and tourists
Cardiovascular medical services
Penghu Branch has long faced the challenge of insufficient cardiovascular medical resources, especially for patients requiring cardiac catheterization, who often cannot receive timely treatment due to inconvenient transportation. To address this issue, under the guidance of the Military Medical Bureau, Penghu Branch collaborated with Tri-Service General Hospital (TSGH) to successfully localize cardiovascular medical services. TSGH regularly dispatches cardiologists and surgeons to Penghu to provide cardiac diagnosis and treatment, cardiac catheterization and interventional procedures, and support preoperative assessment, treatment, and postoperative care, eliminating the need for patients to travel to the main island.
Equipped with a state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization laboratory and specialized equipment, it can perform coronary artery interventional procedures and provide immediate diagnosis and treatment for acute cardiovascular diseases. This allows patients to complete critical cardiovascular interventional procedures in Penghu, reducing travel fatigue and improving treatment outcomes.2. The collaboration between the Penghu branch and experts from Tri-Service General Hospital ensures that Penghu medical personnel receive regular on-site guidance from specialists, guaranteeing that patients can enjoy center-level professional care locally.
This support model effectively addresses the issue of Penghu patients' inability to access timely cardiac catheterization treatment, enhances the capabilities of local medical institutions, and enables Penghu residents to receive more efficient and convenient cardiovascular medical services, bridging the gap in medical resources and achieving equal access to health.
At least 100 echocardiograms per month
50 24-hour Holter monitoring sessions per month
30-40 exercise electrocardiograms and coronary computed tomography (CT) scans per month
Emergency catheter referral rate
Rate of AMI patients receiving beta-blockers during hospitalization
In-hospital mortality rate of AMI patients
The staff in the cardiac catheterization lab are all trained by the National Defense Medical University's Neihu Tri-Service General Hospital. The lab is equipped with an aortic balloon pump for patients with cardiogenic conditions. For patients in more severe shock, cardiac surgeons assist with ECMO placement to maintain vital signs and facilitate subsequent treatment. The cardiac catheterization lab is also equipped with long-distance communication capabilities.You can directly speak with cardiology experts at the Tri-Service General Hospital in Neihu. The doctors there can directly view the current cardiac catheterization images and provide guidance, eliminating delays and providing an extra layer of safety for local residents. Furthermore, it offers 24/7 AI-powered electrocardiogram monitoring, minimizing misdiagnosis or delays in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.
For many years, the Penghu Branch Hospital has operated in the Penghu area, earning high recognition and trust from local residents for its comprehensive, 24/7, and high-quality medical services. Penghu residents generally express satisfaction with the convenience, professionalism, and efficiency of the medical services, and this positive feedback fully reflects the branch hospital's commitment to improving community health. This not only guarantees the quality of medical care but also aligns with the branch hospital's vision—to become the preferred hospital for both military and civilian personnel, and a medical force safeguarding community health. Whenever patients have urgent or special needs, the branch hospital can quickly provide timely and professional medical support, winning widespread praise.
Liu WC, Lin CS, Tsai CS, Tsao TP, Cheng CC, Liou JT, Lin WS, Cheng SM, Lou YS, Lee CC, Lin C. A deep learning algorithm for detecting acute myocardial infarction. EuroIntervention. 2021 Oct 20;17(9):765-773. doi: 10.4244/EIJ-D-20-01155. PMID: 33840640; PMCID: PMC9724911
Lin CS, Liu WT, Tsai DJ, Lou YS, Chang CH, Lee CC, Fang WH, Wang CC, Chen YY, Lin WS, Cheng CC, Lee CC, Wang CH, Tsai CS, Lin SH, Lin C. AI-enabled electrocardiography alert intervention and all-cause mortality: a pragmatic randomized clinical trial. Nat Med. 2024 May;30(5):1461-1470. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-02961-4. Epub 2024 Apr 29. PMID: 38684860.
On April 7, 2022, Director Tsai Chien-sung personally led a medical team to successfully complete the first open-heart surgery performed on an outlying island in Taiwan. This was not only a major breakthrough in the medical level of the Penghu branch hospital, but also a milestone in the localization of medical care on outlying islands. The success of this surgery not only brought higher-level medical services to the Penghu area, but also provided new ideas and models for the development of medical care in other outlying islands.This innovative model will further promote the development of healthcare in Penghu, realize equal rights for residents of outlying islands in healthcare, and elevate Penghu's healthcare level to a level comparable to that of the main island of Taiwan. Furthermore, from 2022 to June 2025, through close collaboration with the cardiovascular surgery teams of the main hospital and the Armed Forces Hospital, six locally-based open-heart surgeries have been successfully completed in Penghu, with all six patients experiencing successful surgeries.Through close collaboration among specialist teams, we will continue to dedicate ourselves to providing high-quality cardiac surgery care to the people of Penghu while maintaining a stable and high success rate. This will ensure that the people of Penghu have cardiac care services that are no less than those on the main island of Taiwan, thus setting a benchmark for open-heart surgery on outlying islands in Taiwan.
