The Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at The Second Norman Bethune Hospital of Jilin University is a specialized discipline that integrates medical care, teaching, and scientific research. In 2008, it was jointly approved with the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine as a Key Clinical Specialty in Jilin Province. In 2009, it became the Cardiovascular Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Jilin University. In 2012, it was established as the only Major Vascular Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center in Jilin Province, with a green channel for emergency cardiovascular care, providing fast and high-quality medical services for patients with critical major vascular diseases. It is the first major vascular disease diagnosis and treatment center in Northeast China and one of the few such centers in the country. The department performs the largest number and the most complex surgeries in the field of cardiovascular surgery in Jilin Province, achieving domestically leading and internationally advanced levels in both surgical difficulty and success rates.

The department currently has 1 professor, 4 associate professors, 2 physicians, 1 doctoral supervisor, 2 master's supervisors, 4 medical doctors, 3 medical masters, 1 associate chief nurse, 4 head nurses, 15 nurses, 19 nursing assistants, and 4 perfusionists.

Professor Liu Kexiang, the academic leader of the department, also holds positions including Member of the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, Standing Committee Member of the Cardiovascular Surgeon Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, Vice Chairman of the Interventional Therapy Academic Committee under the Cardiovascular Surgeon Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, Council Member of the Jilin Provincial Medical Association, Chairman of the Cardiovascular Surgeon Branch of the Jilin Provincial Medical Doctor Association, Chairman of the Cardiovascular Surgery Specialty Branch of the Jilin Provincial Medical Association, and Vice Chairman of the Organ Transplantation Specialty Branch of the Jilin Provincial Medical Association.

The department has 42 beds, including 10 intensive care unit beds. It is equipped with 9 internationally advanced ventilators, 24 multifunctional invasive and non-invasive cardiac monitors, 2 cardiopulmonary bypass machines, 1 intra-aortic balloon pump, 2 blood gas analyzers, 2 continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) machines, 2 extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines, cardiac defibrillators, and other advanced equipment.

The department performs over 700 cardiovascular surgeries annually, including more than 200 coronary artery bypass grafting procedures, over 95% of which are performed off-pump on beating hearts; over 200 various heart valve replacement/repair surgeries; nearly 100 major vascular surgeries, including more than 40 surgeries for acute Stanford Type A aortic dissections, open stent placements for acute Stanford Type B aortic dissections, and interventional stent implantations for chronic Stanford Type B aortic dissections; various congenital heart disease surgeries; other cardiac surgeries such as cardiac tumor resections; over 70 cases of atrial fibrillation treated with valve or bypass surgeries combined with surgical bipolar radiofrequency ablation modified Maze III procedures; and nearly 100 minimally invasive cardiac surgeries assisted by thoracoscopy, covering almost all common cardiovascular surgical procedures.

Since January 2007, the department has partnered with the Jilin Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, the Jilin Provincial Charity Federation, and the Beijing Angel Heart Charity Foundation to become a designated charity heart hospital in Jilin Province. It provides surgical assistance to children aged 0-14 from impoverished families in the province who suffer from severe heart diseases requiring surgery but lack the financial means to cover all treatment costs, making significant contributions to the treatment of congenital heart diseases in Jilin Province.

The department is responsible for one National Natural Science Foundation project, one sub-project under the National 211 Project Phase III, participation in two National 12th Five-Year Plan Science and Technology Support Program projects, two international cooperation projects, six Jilin Provincial Development Plan projects, and four other scientific research projects. It has published one professional monograph and over 60 academic papers, including more than 10 SCI-indexed papers. The department has received one Jilin Provincial Natural Science Academic Achievement Excellence Award and 14 Jilin University Medical Achievement Awards, including 9 second prizes and 5 third prizes. The surgical method of ascending aortic replacement + modified aortic arch replacement + stent elephant trunk procedure was presented at the 2011 National Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Annual Conference and the 2012 National Cardiovascular Surgeon Association Annual Conference. In 2012, it was invited as a featured presentation at the Japanese Annual Conference of Cardiovascular Surgery, generating strong反响 and receiving attention and praise from peers both domestically and internationally.