From the inclusion of "Future Health" in the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting Innovative Development of Future Industries" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments at the beginning of this year, to the recent announcement by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine to fully develop "Digital Intelligent Traditional Chinese Medicine", the dividends of China's health policies continue to be released, and technologies such as artificial intelligence continue to empower new medical services. The cultivation of new quality productivity in the medical and health sub sectors is also accelerating.
Digitization is a distinctive feature of new industrialization and an important way to form new quality productivity. Xinhua News Agency's "Xinhua Health" reporter visited multiple medical institutions and learned that with the continuous expansion of the application boundaries of smart healthcare and the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in personalized disease management, high-tech, high-efficiency, and high-quality digital construction has become the driving force for the high-quality development of the future health industry.
AI makes treatment more efficient and precise
Recently, at a health technology company in Beijing, the reporter personally experienced the integration and innovation of artificial intelligence medical imaging technology and traditional Chinese medicine theory. With the help of the intelligent traditional Chinese medicine equipment developed by the company, journalists can quickly obtain relevant TCM diagnostic results for their own health. Combined with professional TCM doctors' consultations, the entire process of diagnosis and treatment becomes fast and efficient.
This company, named Beijing Eagle Eye Intelligent Health Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Eagle Eye Intelligent Traditional Chinese Medicine"), is a technology enterprise dedicated to innovative services in artificial intelligence medical imaging technology. The company has developed a digital "diagnosis, treatment, evaluation and management" system for traditional Chinese medicine by integrating infrared thermal imaging technology with traditional Chinese medicine theory. The "Eagle Eye Intelligent Traditional Chinese Medicine Brain" developed by the company is a comprehensive, integrated, and multimodal traditional Chinese medicine model. Its database is very large: it has over 20 billion pieces of medical data; More than 22 million medical and health dialogue and consultation data; More than 11 million pieces of infrared thermography, tongue imaging, pulse, meridian and other examination data; And over 8 million pieces of Chinese and Western medical literature, medical cases, and knowledge base data. It utilizes deep learning technology to assist doctors in diagnosis, realizing a new modern traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment model with multimodal data comprehensive diagnosis and visualization of the process of syndrome differentiation and treatment as its core technical characteristics.
In the field of medical devices, AI can help achieve more precise treatment. Wang Tao, Director of the Emergency Trauma Treatment Center and Director of the Finger replantation Center at Tongji Hospital in Shanghai, introduced to reporters that AI can assist doctors in diagnosing difficult and complex diseases and planning surgeries. Taking pelvic fractures as an example, this complex surgery has high technical difficulty and potential risks, often requiring frequent use of X-ray fluoroscopy positioning during the surgery to ensure accuracy. The integration of AI and AR (augmented reality) technology provides new possibilities for intraoperative visualization positioning. Before surgery, a detailed 3D model of the patient's pelvis can be obtained through high-precision medical imaging equipment such as CT and MRI. By using AI computing and modeling to generate virtual surgical planning information, which is then imported into AR head mounted displays, it can help doctors visually determine the position of nerves and blood vessels during surgery, assist in planning surgical approaches, steel plate placement positions, as well as the length, position, angle, etc. of implanted screws, improving the safety and accuracy of surgery.
On May 25, 2023, the chief physician of the Department of Cardiology at Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital used 3D modeling technology to treat patients with atrial fibrillation. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Tao Liang
At the practical level, the integration of digital technology and hospital diagnosis and treatment models can be effectively carried out. Taking finger replantation as an example, Wang Tao explained that microsurgical repair technology is difficult, complex and delicate to operate, and the entire diagnosis and treatment process involves numerous links, such as determining the timing of surgery, evaluating the patient's condition, and handling vascular crises. Each link requires quick and accurate decision-making. In the future, based on patient big data, cloud computing can combine indications and contraindications before surgery to calculate the risk index of replantation and the success rate of surgery; Image recognition technology can help doctors quickly locate and identify the blood vessels, nerves, and tendons of the affected limb during surgery, reducing surgical time; Deep learning can generate structured knowledge to help doctors determine the cause of postoperative vascular crisis; Knowledge graph reasoning can recommend corresponding treatment plans for different situations such as vascular spasm and vascular embolism.
Personalized health management has become a trend
The 14th Five Year Plan for National Health points out that China still faces a complex situation of multiple disease threats coexisting and multiple health influencing factors intertwined. The incidence rate of chronic diseases is rising and showing a younger trend. The number of people suffering from common mental disorders and psychological and behavioral problems is increasing year by year. Food safety, environmental health, occupational health and other problems are still prominent. At the same time, the aging process of the population is accelerating, and the demand for rehabilitation, nursing, and other services is rapidly increasing. The supply of eugenics and infant care services urgently needs to be strengthened.
The reporter learned that different groups of people have increasingly urgent and complex needs for health management, and AI and other intelligent technologies have promoted the widespread use of mobile and remote healthcare. People can achieve online consultation without leaving their homes; Artificial intelligence and cloud computing have given rise to emerging business models such as digital research and development in the pharmaceutical industry; The medical insurance system also continuously improves its management level through big data; Technologies such as brain computer interfaces and wearable devices enable the systematic use of human data for health management, making dynamic health monitoring a reality and continuously meeting people's needs for recording and analyzing health data.
Wang Tao introduced that taking smart healthcare cloud services as an example, the service has developed from basic functions such as information query to rich functions such as integrated appointment registration and emergency call. The development of digital technology continues to broaden the application boundaries of smart healthcare, which promotes the humanization and personalization of medical and health management.
Wang Tao believes that by leveraging big data analysis and innovative management, patients will be more likely to receive personalized treatment and health plans. Wang Tao gave an example that "sequential medicine" is a new theory and model that has emerged in the field of modern trauma treatment in recent years, emphasizing trauma prevention and treatment throughout the entire process of social prevention, pre hospital first aid, in-hospital treatment, and post hospital rehabilitation. Through multi-directional interactive methods such as information platform sharing, joint teaching rounds, medical science popularization, and safety education, different institutions in the "pre hospital in-hospital post hospital" process are promoted to collaborate and develop personalized treatment and health management plans, forming a comprehensive trauma prevention and treatment database for patients undergoing joint diagnosis and treatment, covering patients' basic information, nutritional status, mental condition, medical history, medical imaging data, etc. Big data analysis can predict the disease risk of patients, continuously track their health status, and provide real-time intelligent suggestions and interventions.
New quality productivity leads the future development of the health industry
At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and seven other departments issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting Future Industrial Innovation and Development", which clearly pointed out that grasping the global trend of scientific and technological innovation and industrial development, we should focus on promoting the development of industries in six major directions: future manufacturing, future information, future materials, future energy, future space, and future health. In terms of the future health industry, the above opinions propose promoting technologies such as artificial intelligence to empower new medical services.
Zhang Wenhong, Director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases of China and Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, previously told the media during the iCANX Davos Science Summit in Switzerland that the integration of new technologies demonstrates the development direction of future health products. Although it is currently difficult to determine which technology will dominate, it is foreseeable that continuous product iteration will bring significant health benefits. The application of artificial intelligence and digital technology will gradually penetrate into medical practice, thereby improving the accuracy of diagnosis, accelerating drug development, and improving the diagnosis of difficult diseases.
Recently, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the National Data Administration issued the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of Digital Traditional Chinese Medicine", which clearly proposes to gradually integrate emerging digital technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence into the entire chain of traditional Chinese medicine inheritance, innovation, and development within 3 to 5 years, promote the sharing, circulation, and reuse of traditional Chinese medicine data, and initially achieve effective integration of data across the entire industry, industry chain, and process of traditional Chinese medicine, striving to create "digital intelligent traditional Chinese medicine".
The standardization construction team of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital focuses on the national intangible cultural heritage - "Li's Needle" (hereinafter referred to as "Needle") therapy, and is committed to exploring "health management models under new quality productivity" by combining standardized and intelligent methods. It is reported that in terms of intelligence, the above-mentioned team has successfully developed a "3D navigation system" and an "automatic robotic arm device" in cooperation with Chengdu Chengdian Jinpan Health Data Technology Co., Ltd., relying on relevant projects such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in the early stage. The precision of the robotic arm is less than 1mm. On this basis, precise acupoint positioning technology and personalized intelligent acupoint matching services are also underway. Therefore, through the development of standardized and intelligent equipment for pestle needles, medical institutions at all levels and general healthcare facilities can use pestle needle technology more scientifically, efficiently, and correctly. It can not only fill the gap in the field of intelligent equipment with this technology, but also eliminate operational risks, thereby assisting the development of China's health and elderly care industries.
Industry insiders point out that the rise of digital technology has fundamentally expanded the application areas of traditional electronic health. China has initially established a digital health service system that integrates digital technology with multiple fields of health. In recent years, China's medical and health sector has frequently introduced favorable policies, and the country attaches great importance to the vigorous development of the digital health industry. The medical and health market has been favored by the investment community.
On July 25th, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and China Securities Index Co., Ltd. officially released the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Board Medical Index and the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Board Artificial Intelligence Index, providing the market with richer investment targets for the Science and Technology Innovation Board. The Shanghai Stock Exchange stated that the launch of the two indices will help further enhance the coverage of the Sci Tech Innovation Board index in the sub sectors of new quality productivity, providing investors with more diversified investment analysis tools.
As the editor in chief of the book "Big Health Engineering and Medical New Quality Productivity", Wang Tao looks forward to the leading role of new quality productivity in the future health industry. He believes that the iterative upgrading of technology is bringing significant changes to the health industry, and the digital health industry has great potential as an industry blue ocean. (Reporter Zeng Dejin reporting from Beijing)