They have finally caught up, do Chinese enterprises still have a chance? "Chasing Light" for ten years, foreign countries have been leading for decades. Molecular | Imaging | Enterprises

Open your eyes and light enters the line of sight-a process of about 1/1000000000000 seconds, also known as 1 picosecond. 1 picosecond is fleeting, but let the United Pictures Medical Molecular Imaging Research and Development team invest 10 years of energy.

This year, Lianying Medical has increased the time resolution of molecular imaging equipment to within 200 picoseconds for the first time, reaching a leading level in the industry. From catching up, parallel to surpassing, Lianying Medical has taken the lead in the foreign market for decades and stepped onto the fast track of high-quality development.

Standing at the "negative starting point"

PET-CT, also known as positron emission tomography and computed tomography imaging, is known as the "Hubble Telescope" for observing the interior of the human body. Its clinical application in tumors accounts for more than 90%, making it a "miracle tool" for tumor screening and diagnosis.

More than a decade ago, United Medical decided to enter PET-CT. At the beginning of the entrepreneurship, the core team of Lianying Medical Molecular Imaging Business Unit went to the hospital to conduct research and understand industry needs. "I vividly remember the scene when we said that Lianying was going to do PET-CT, and the hospital staff showed a surprised expression." An Shaohui, the current vice president of Lianying Medical Molecular Imaging Business Unit, still remembers that scene. Although he did not say it directly, the three words "impossible" were already written on the other person's face.

The product is still floating in the sky, and the industry is not optimistic. An Shaohui described it as moving forward from a "negative starting point". "We are only qualified to say that we are on the starting line when the first generation of products is produced."

However, just standing at the starting line is not enough. Lianying Medical's competitors are industry giants such as Siemens, General Electric, Philips, etc. These foreign companies have already monopolized the market and have higher recognition in the medical industry. Even if Lianying Medical produces PET-CT, who is willing to pay?

Entrepreneurship cannot rely solely on emotions. To break the monopoly and break through the encirclement, Lianying Medical has set two clear goals. One is independent innovation, otherwise relying on foreign core technologies such as chips and algorithms will always be held back by others; The second is that if there is no one, I have it, and if there is someone, I have it. It is necessary to do better than the equipment on the market in order to make customers pay.

The principle of PET-CT is to receive gamma photons from different directions of the human body. By measuring the time difference between two photons reaching the detector, the lesion can be located in a smaller area. The smaller the time resolution value, the higher the detection accuracy, and the more accurate the identification of lesions.

At that time, the industry's general level was around 300 to 400 picoseconds. Can we break the industry record and reduce the time resolution to below 200 picoseconds? For this reason, Lianying Medical has decided to design specialized chips and algorithms to create high-performance and miniaturized detectors.

Cast the heart to create the soul

"Developing chips is not our specialty," recalled Wang Chao, President of the Molecular Imaging Business Unit of Lianying Medical. The external support team was intimidated and hesitant when they heard the strict standards. "Time waits for no one, we have no way out, we can only do it ourselves."

In the years of developing chips, before the end of the Chinese New Year, members of the United Microelectronics team returned to the company one after another on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

"At that time, I was really working day and night, trying my best to improve all aspects of performance," said Liu Shitao, Senior Director of the Molecular Imaging Business Unit of Lianying Medical.

However, not all efforts can be rewarded. "When the first version of the chip came out, it didn't actually meet our expectations." At that time, An Shaohui was actually uncertain, "I would also question whether our own design path was right or not."

The difficulty of self-developed chips lies in moving forward in the dark. The chip is sealed inside the detector, and it's completely unknown where the problem is. "We can only explore which module inside the chip did not meet the requirements from the clues of the chip's output. We will explore step by step to find and solve the problem."

The R&D team has made a series of attempts, from the crystal of the chip to the processing size and then to the design structure. After the second version of the chip was made, the time resolution decreased from over 400 picoseconds to over 280 picoseconds. "It has already been considered a good indicator in the industry, but it is still a little short of our expectations," An Shaohui said.

Wang Chao said, "If you want to become an industry leader, how can you not take some risks? We must cross the 200 picosecond barrier."

For every decrease of 1 picosecond, the development difficulty increases geometrically. "If we make some further improvements in our circuit, is there a hope of achieving below 200 picoseconds?" "The impact on the chip varies from single crystal to polycrystalline. Can we try different crystal modules?"... On a small chip, the R&D team has invested a lot of time and energy.

In addition to chips, domestically produced PET CT also needs to have its own soul - algorithms. Dong Yun, Senior Director of the Molecular Imaging Business Unit, said, "The traditional PET algorithm is iterative, and while the signal is improved, the noise is also increasing."

Dong Yun led his team to target artificial intelligence algorithms that have not yet been explored in the industry. Their advantage is that they can "learn" the output images, gradually improving signal quality while controlling noise, making scanning time shorter and using fewer drugs.

When the third version of the detector was made, An Shaohui still had no confidence in his heart. However, test results show that the time resolution of the new generation digital detector has exceeded 200 picoseconds, reaching the 190 picosecond level.

"From then on, in the race of high-end medical imaging equipment, which Westerners have been leading for decades, we finally 'caught up' at the bend!" Dong Yun said.

PET-CT developed by Lianying Medical

A more difficult road

After the latest generation of molecular imaging equipment from Lianying Medical was delivered to hospitals, the first reaction of doctors was a special surprise. Not only because the scanning speed is faster, but also because the image quality is higher.

High quality images do not rely solely on the improvement of a certain performance indicator of PET-CT, but on achieving comprehensive breakthroughs in spatial resolution, temporal resolution, sensitivity, and axial field of view simultaneously. This relies on the modular design of the detector.

"Like building blocks, we can customize functions according to customer needs, giving imaging devices greater freedom," said Liu Shitao.

Approximately the size of a Rubik's cube, this is the detector module developed by Lianying Medical. From the underlying components, core components to the entire system, Lianying Medical has gathered sand and achieved a vertical innovation system with full chain autonomy and controllability, breaking the current situation of China's dependence on imported high-end medical equipment.

Last year, in the field of medical imaging equipment, Lianying Medical ranked first in the comprehensive market share of newly added imaging in China. Its production of multiple high-end medical equipment can now compete with foreign giants. At present, Lianying Medical has launched over 90 fully independent intellectual property products to the market and has settled in tens of thousands of medical institutions in more than 50 countries worldwide.

In order to serve the national strategy, Lianying Medical is advancing towards a "no man's land" of basic research, embarking on a more difficult path, and promoting the development of China's medical industry from the source of a scientific system. An Shaohui said, "Innovation is not something that a group of people suddenly accomplish. Innovation is actually a process. Only by seeking breakthroughs step by step can change ultimately occur."

"In the development of high-end medical devices, we are not just catchers, but also have confidence to be leaders." Wang Chao said that more than 10 years ago, when Lianying Medical started developing PET-CT, few people believed it could be achieved. Seven years ago, when we proposed the goal of exceeding 200 picoseconds in flight time, everyone was not optimistic either. "Now, we have all achieved it."