When Interventional Experts Meet Robotics Engineers: Transforming Biopsy from an Art into a Science

In the interventional operating room of a county-level hospital, 58-year-old Dr. Wang stared at the CT screen, his palms slightly sweaty. On the screen, an 8-mm pulmonary nodule moved subtly with the patient’s respiration—he knew that the margin for error in the upcoming biopsy was virtually zero. Even a slight deviation could not only fail to yield adequate tissue samples but also trigger complications such as hemorrhage and pneumothorax.

Such scenes unfold daily in primary care hospitals across China.

Cancer has long become the “number one threat” to the health of China’s population. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)’s GLOBOCAN 2022 report, there were approximately 4.82 million new cancer cases in China in 2022, accounting for 24.1% of the global total; cancer-related deaths reached 2.57 million, representing a high proportion of 26.5%. Over the past two decades, the incidence rate of cancer hasAnnual average of 1.4%...rates continue to climb, and the disease burden is constantly increasing.

Among these, solid tumors such as lung cancer, liver cancer, and pancreatic cancer are particularly severe:

Lung cancer accounts for approximately 1.06 million new cases annually, representing 22% of all cancers and ranking first;

Approximately 390,000 new cases of liver cancer are diagnosed annually, accounting for nearly 45% of the global total;

Although pancreatic cancer is “silent,” annual new cases have exceeded 125,000, with most diagnosed at an advanced stage.

For these patients, imaging examinations or blood tests can only provide clues; onlyBiopsy for Pathological Tissue Acquisition, to clearly determine the tumor’s nature, molecular subtype, and gene mutation status—which directly dictates the eligibility for targeted therapy, suitability for ablation, and staging-based treatment strategies. It can be said thatBiopsy is the indispensable “first gateway” in precision oncology diagnosis and treatment.

Yet reality is exceptionally harsh.

Tumor lesions are not static targets—respiratory motion, organ displacement, and soft tissue deformation constantly alter their position. As one expert put it, “It is like aiming at a speck of dust on shifting sand.”

The hilar and peripancreatic regions are densely populated with blood vessels and bile ducts, making biopsy akin to “defusing mines on the tip of a knife.” Slight deviations can lead to failed sampling in mild cases, or severe complications such as massive hemorrhage or bile leakage in more serious instances. Data from the World Health Organization indicate that misdiagnoses, missed diagnoses, and complications resulting from insufficient biopsy precision are causing millions of cancer patients worldwide to miss their optimal window for intervention.

“Traditional puncture is essentially ‘blind’ and experience-based.” — Clinical Expert, PLA General Hospital (301 Hospital)Chief Physician Xiao YueyongHe stated bluntly, “Even the most senior physicians cannot fully offset the uncertainties arising from respiratory interference and anatomical complexity.”

Clinically, training a physician to independently perform complex puncture procedures often takes three to five years, yet the technique remains difficult to standardize and replicate. In primary-care hospitals with limited equipment and understaffed teams, physicians frequently experience a collective sense of powerlessness when faced with high-risk, high-precision procedures.

It is against this backdrop that“Difficult to Perform, Unable to Perform, Afraid to Perform”has become the three mountains weighing on the minds of grassroots doctors—

It is not that we are unwilling to perform the procedure; rather, the lesion is mobile and the anatomy is highly hazardous, making it technically challenging.

It is not a matter of unwillingness, but rather one of inability due to insufficient equipment and non-standardized processes.

It is not a matter of shirking responsibility, but rather that a single error could endanger lives, leading to a reluctance to act.

When high technical barriers and ever-present risks prevail, primary care hospitals are often left with no choice but to refer patients upward. This chasm between “need” and “capacity” not only delays individual treatment but also serves as a critical bottleneck constraining the overall advancement of cancer prevention and control in China.

Today, an emerging needle puncture navigation technology is attempting to move this mountain.

An accidental exchange in the medical industry allowedLiu HuagenIt has revealed a technological gap in clinical diagnosis and treatment: the extreme reliance of traditional puncture procedures on physicians’ experience, which leads to inconsistent accuracy and a high incidence of complications, stands in stark contrast to the standardized, high-precision advantages of industrial robots.

“At the time, I felt that mature precision control technologies from the industrial sector might bring breakthroughs to medical puncture procedures.”This idea became his original aspiration for later venturing into the medical device industry.

Meanwhile, in the operating room of the Interventional Center at the 301 Hospital, Dr. Xiao Yueyong was confronting a practical dilemma on the clinical frontline: the difficulty of scaling and replicating puncture techniques. “At my peak, I supervised ten visiting physicians, who observed and performed procedures alongside me in the operating room. Yet, upon returning to their respective hospitals, many were unable to perform complex punctures,” Dr. Xiao explained. Traditional puncture procedures rely heavily on a physician’s tactile feedback, spatial imagination, and clinical experience. For the same lesion, different physicians may vary in needle insertion angle, force, and depth, leading not only to poor consistency in pathological results but also to persistently high rates of complications such as pneumothorax and hemorrhage.

With over 30 years of dedicated expertise in interventional therapy, he has performed countless complex puncture procedures and witnessed too many regrets stemming from technological limitations—“Some visiting physicians studied under me intermittently for ten years, yet still struggled to perform adequately upon returning to grassroots-level hospitals.It is not a lack of effort, but rather that the precision of manual operations cannot be consistently replicated.”

Due to a shortage of specialized personnel and technical support, primary care hospitals often force patients to seek treatment at tertiary Grade A hospitals, causing many to miss the optimal window for diagnosis and therapy while waiting. “At that time, I wondered whether it might be possible to develop a device that could standardize established puncture expertise, enabling more physicians to perform precise punctures.”

Liu Huagen, an engineer specializing in precision control robots, founded Yishengxin Technology in 2019., committed to leveraging intelligent technology to resolve the industry-wide dilemma in primary-care puncture procedures, where such interventions are often “difficult to perform, infeasible to perform, or too risky to attempt.”

From industrial robots to medical robots, Liu Huagen stated, “Since medical robots deal with patients’ life safety, the industry’s stringent regulatory characteristics dictate that requirements for reliability, safety, and precision are far higher than those for industrial robots.”

In his view, the application of technology in the medical field must be thoroughly validated. Even cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics currently serve primarily in auxiliary roles, but this does not hinder the exploration of technology toward full autonomy.

Yishengxin Precio® Platform: The World’s First Dual-Mode Intelligent Puncture Solution,with“Real-Time Guidance + Navigation Compatibility”’s core design, which breaks through many limitations of traditional puncture techniques, fromPrecision, Safety, UniversalityThree Core Dimensions Redefine Industry Standards for Puncture Procedures, Opening a New Frontier in Complex Puncture Therapies.

The current domestic medical market exhibits a clear stratification of equipment:Grade A Tertiary HospitalEquipped with large-bore CT scanners, providing the hardware foundation for advanced interventional therapies; whereasCounty-level hospitals and primary healthcare institutions, still dominated by small-bore CT, making it difficult to support complex real-time guidance procedures. To address this situation, Yishengxin’s dual-modality solution offers the optimal answer:Enable Real-Time Guidance Mode in Large-Bore CT Environments, enabling dynamic tracking of lesions by leveraging real-time CT image streams;In small-bore CT scenarios, the system seamlessly switches to navigation mode., ensuring puncture precision while maintaining compatibility with traditional devices.

The core innovation of the dual-mode intelligent puncture solution lies in its deep adaptation to diverse medical scenarios and technological integration.“We designed the dual-mode system primarily to address the real-world issue of uneven distribution of medical resources,” explained Liu Huagen.

This “one-device-fits-all-scenarios” design completely breaks down equipment barriers, enabling hospitals at all levels to perform high-quality puncture procedures.

Navigation ModeAs a clinically validated and mature technology, 3D reconstruction converts CT images into a visualized “3D map,” allowing physicians to plan needle insertion paths under the guidance of an optical navigation system. This approach significantly reduces reliance on physicians’ spatial imagination compared to traditional blind puncture. However, Liu Huagen also acknowledges the inherent limitations of conventional navigation modes: “The ‘3D map’ is constructed from static CT images taken minutes earlier, whereas patients’ respiratory movements and soft tissue deformation are continuous processes. This discrepancy between the ‘map’ and the ‘actual conditions’ necessitates secondary verification and adjustment after puncture.”

The advent of real-time guidance mode has achieved a generational leap in puncture technology.This model completely abandons static 3D reconstruction, relying directly onReal-Time Imaging of Mainstream CT ScannersFlowUnder guidance, lesion displacement and soft tissue deformation caused by the patient's respiration can be visualized in real time for the physician.

More critically, the Yishengxin team has deeply integrated artificial intelligence technology into the system. By leveraging real-time image segmentation algorithms, it automatically identifies lesions and critical surrounding structures such as blood vessels and nerves, thereby dynamically adjusting the puncture path.

In terms of quantitative accuracy metrics, Yishengxin’s dual-mode platform has achieved in vivo1mmpuncture accuracy, a breakthrough of revolutionary significance for punctures in complex anatomical regions.

Taking abdominal tumors such as those in the liver and pancreas as examples, these areas feature complex anatomical structures, with the hepatic hilum and peripancreatic region densely populated by blood vessels and bile ducts. Traditional needle biopsy is akin to “finding a path through a jungle of blood vessels,” where even slight deviations can trigger life-threatening hemorrhage. In contrast, millimeter-level precision enables the biopsy needle to accurately avoid critical structures and reach the core of the lesion.

Beyond precision, enhanced safety and efficiency are equally core values of this technological breakthrough. Traditional puncture procedures take over 30 minutes, requiring repeated exposure of both patients and medical staff to CT radiation, whereas Yishengxin’s dual-mode platform reduces the procedure time toWithin 20 minutes, with some simple cases requiring as little as 10 minutes, significantly reducing the risk of radiation exposure.

Meanwhile, the platform’s built-in active protection system uses AI to monitor key structures along the needle insertion path in real time. Upon detecting potential risks, it immediately issues alerts and suspends the procedure, thereby preventing complications such as pneumothorax and hemorrhage at the source. Data show that the incidence of complications in puncture procedures performed using this platform is reduced by compared with traditional methods.Over 60%。

Dr. Xiao Yueyong has observed in his clinical practice that many tumor patients still face the hassle and risks of undergoing a second round of treatment after being diagnosed via biopsy.

For some patients, due to the unique location of the lesion and the dense surrounding vasculature, a biopsy necessitates referral to another department for ablation planning, followed by a second surgery. This process not only delays treatment but also increases patient suffering and financial burden.“The greatest pitfall in cancer treatment is ‘fragmentation.’ If precise ablation can be performed immediately after obtaining pathological information via biopsy, the risk of tumor dissemination can be minimized to the greatest extent, thereby enhancing therapeutic efficacy.”Dr. Xiao Yueyong’s clinical insight became the team’s R&D“Integrated Diagnosis and Treatment”The Core Starting Point of the Plan.

They attempted"Puncture" and "Ablation"Seamless integration has been achieved. After the biopsy needle accurately obtains pathological samples, there is no need to change equipment; physicians can directly switch to ablation mode via the system. Based on real-time imaging data and pathological analysis results, the robot automatically plans the ablation path and energy output protocol.

Dr. Xiao Yueyong used a vivid analogy to explain this process: “Traditional ablation is like boiling eggs by feel, where one does not know the appropriate heat level or duration required to fully cook the egg (completely inactivate the tumor) without causing it to burst (damage surrounding healthy tissue); whereas an intelligent platform functions like a precise smart egg cooker, accurately calculating energy output parameters based on the tumor’s size, location, and pathological type, thereby ensuring that ablation is both thorough and safe.”

The technical core of this solution,lies in the robot's integration and precise regulation of multidimensional data.

During ablation, the needle serves not only as a therapeutic instrument but also as a “data sensor,” real-time acquiring key parameters such as impedance, temperature, and current in the lesion area. AI algorithms dynamically adjust energy output by integrating preoperative imaging and pathological findings: when excessive temperature is detected, posing a risk of damage to surrounding blood vessels, the system automatically reduces power; when incomplete coverage of the lesion margin is identified, the ablation zone is appropriately expanded.

To achieve broader therapeutic adaptability, Yishengxin’s platform is also compatible with various mainstream ablation technologies, including radiofrequency, microwave, cryoablation, and irreversible electroporation (nanoknife). The parameter characteristics and applicable scenarios of different ablation technologies have been pre-loaded into the system database—Physicians need only select the appropriate ablation modality based on the patient’s condition, and the robot will automatically match the optimal operational plan.“We have conducted compatibility testing with ablation devices from Boston Scientific and Medtronic, as well as domestic energy platforms.” This open and compatible design allows hospitals to integrate into the intelligent diagnosis and treatment system without replacing their existing ablation equipment, significantly lowering the threshold for clinical implementation.

More importantly, the platform also features immediate postoperative assessment capabilities. Upon completion of ablation, the robot can automatically evaluate the ablation efficacy by analyzing real-time imaging and data feedback. By comparing lesion density and blood flow signals before and after ablation, and integrating therapeutic parameters such as temperature and impedance, it generates a visualized assessment report that clearly informs the physician whether “the tumor has been completely inactivated” or whether “additional treatment is required.” This functionality fundamentally transforms the traditional ablation paradigm of “waiting for follow-up examinations after surgery,” thereby preventing tumor recurrence due to incomplete treatment and reducing the costs and risks associated with secondary interventions for patients.

“The ultimate goal of medical technology is to provide patients with full-cycle solutions, rather than standalone devices or technologies.”Liu Huagen stated that Yishengxin will deepen its collaboration with more energy-based device manufacturers in the future, continuously enriching its library of treatment protocols. Meanwhile, the company will integrate AI-assisted prognostic evaluation capabilities to predict patients’ risk of recurrence using long-term follow-up data, thereby providing personalized recommendations for subsequent treatment.

This end-to-end layout, spanning from “diagnosis” to “treatment” and then to “rehabilitation management,” not only ensures that the value of precision medicine permeates the entire course of oncology treatment, but also elevates Yishengxin from a “biopsy device supplier” to a “comprehensive provider of minimally invasive tumor treatment solutions,” thereby paving a new path for industry development.

Destiny has brought together a group of people who share the same vision.

Dr. Xiao Yueyong has been engaged in interventional therapy for over 30 years, witnessing the complete evolution of puncture techniques from the “blind puncture era” to the “intelligent era.”“The mission of clinicians is not only to treat diseases and save lives, but also to identify problems and drive change.”Dr. Xiao Yueyong has consistently adhered to translating clinical needs into technical propositions. From the parameter optimization of early navigation systems, to the functional design of dual-mode intelligent platforms, and further to the miniaturization concept for second-generation products, every one of his recommendations stems from real-world scenarios in the operating room.

CEO Liu Huagen is the core driver of cross-industry innovation. Holding a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Purdue University in the United States, he brings 20 years of experience in the development and management of robotics and medical devices, and isBeijing E-Town “Yiqilin Leading Talent”. In his early years, he delved deeply into the field of industrial robotics at ABB, where he led multiple high-precision robotic arm projects, cultivating an utmost pursuit of excellence in system integration and precise control.

Leveraging his extensive clinical experience, Dr. Xiao Yueyong defined the “safety boundaries” for technological R&D and clarified the clinical requirements that the equipment must meet; meanwhile, Liu Huagen capitalized on his cross-disciplinary expertise to integrate technologies from multiple fields—including robotic control, artificial intelligence, and image processing—thereby systematically overcoming each technical challenge.

Yishengxin’s team also brings together a group of cross-disciplinary elites, with a chief scientist who is a nationally recognized returnee expert boasting 20 years of experience in the industrialization of high-end medical devices, providing cutting-edge technical insights and guidance on commercialization pathways for product development.Head of Marketing, Zhou HaiyanWith over 20 years of experience in healthcare market development and business operations, specializes in market expansion and brand building. Leverages extensive industry resources and a robust network of client relationships to facilitate the rapid adoption of products across hospitals at all levels.

In addition to the support of technical equipment,Telemedicine and Standardized TrainingBecome a key supporting guarantee for the company. “With 5G technology now mature, our robots support remote operation and guidance, enabling experts from tertiary hospitals to remotely assist primary-care physicians in performing complex surgeries,” introduced Dr. Xiao Yueyong. The 301 Hospital has already implemented remote puncture procedures between its main campus and its Hainan branch, providing a replicable model for deployment at the primary-care level.

In physician training, Yishengxin’s design subverts the traditional logic of “training people,” shifting instead to “making robots adapt to humans.”“We collect experts’ procedural habits and puncture parameters for various disease types, using artificial intelligence to create standardized operation packages. Primary-care physicians no longer need lengthy training; they can simply follow the robot’s guidance,” said Liu Huagen. He noted that this approach not only reduces doctors’ learning costs but also enables the scalable replication of expert experience, truly empowering primary-care hospitals to “have the confidence and capability to perform these procedures.”

The product’s adaptability to multiple scenarios has not increased the difficulty of clinical operations. “We have already input ablation needles from different manufacturers and device parameters of various specifications into the robotic system; physicians simply need to select the corresponding device model, and the robot will automatically match the parameters.” In the future, physicians’ reliance on robots will continue to grow.“It is not about robots replacing doctors, but rather freeing physicians from repetitive tasks so they can focus on disease diagnosis and treatment decision-making.”

The advancement of medical insurance inclusion has become a key step in breaking down the barrier of “unaffordability” for primary-care patients.

Currently, some provinces in China have alreadyDa Vinci Surgical Robot, Intelligent Orthopedic DevicesThe inclusion of these items within the scope of medical insurance reimbursement has laid the policy foundation for the admission of medical robots into the medical insurance system.

The team is actively engaging in communications regarding medical insurance policies to advocate for the inclusion of dual-mode intelligent puncture technology in the national medical insurance reimbursement catalog. “Puncture procedures are an essential component of tumor diagnosis and treatment. Patients at the primary care level often forgo precise puncture due to cost concerns, opting instead for traditional methods, which increases the risk of misdiagnosis and missed diagnoses,” Liu Huagen admitted. He noted that inclusion in the medical insurance scheme would not only alleviate the financial burden on patients but also enhance the utilization rate of equipment in primary hospitals, thereby forming“Hospitals are willing to procure, patients are willing to accept, and health insurance remains sustainable”a virtuous cycle.

Furthermore, the company is alsoBuilding a Long-Term Partnership Model of “Equipment + Consumables + Services”. To address the operational needs of primary care hospitals, the company offers flexible collaboration models such as equipment leasing and pay-per-use pricing, thereby reducing the initial financial burden on these institutions. Meanwhile, it supplies dedicated consumables, including specialized puncture needles, leveraging economies of scale in procurement to lower costs and ensure timely availability. The company will also provide ongoing services, such as equipment maintenance and software upgrades, to ensure that primary care hospitals can utilize the solutions effectively and sustainably over the long term.

“We are not simply selling equipment; rather, we serve as long-term partners to primary-care hospitals, providing comprehensive support across equipment, technology, talent, and policy dimensions, thereby empowering these institutions to confidently, competently, and proficiently perform precise puncture procedures,” emphasized Liu Huagen.

Currently,China’s 15th Five-Year Plan lists high-end medical equipment as a key area of support, with CT systems evolving from “diagnostic” to “interventional therapeutic” platforms., which has brought significant development opportunities to Yishengxin. “Policy support is not only reflected in accelerated reviews and R&D subsidies, but also drives the upgrading of CT equipment. The penetration rate of large-bore CT scanners is increasing, providing broader application scenarios for our real-time guidance technology,” said Liu Huagen. He noted that as the prices of domestically produced CT scanners gradually decrease and the equipment conditions in county-level hospitals continue to improve, this is precisely the golden window for Yishengxin to expand into the grassroots market.

Liu Huagen has a clear understanding of the path toward independent innovation for domestically produced high-end medical equipment:“Independent innovation is not simply about import substitution, but rather about defining new standards in the process of substitution.”He believes that true innovation must stem from clinical needs,“All of our R&D efforts aim to address physicians’ pain points, rather than pursuing innovation for its own sake.”This clinical needs-driven innovation philosophy has enabled Yishengxin to establish a unique competitive advantage—compared with similar products, its dual-mode solution offers stronger compatibility and more comprehensive scenario coverage, without being tied to specific CT equipment, thereby better aligning with hospitals’ actual procurement requirements.

Discussing the company’s development blueprint for the next 3–5 years, Liu Huagen outlined a clear plan: complete the development and type testing of registration prototypes for the first-generation products by 2027; obtain NMPA registration certification and enter Grade A tertiary hospitals by 2028, while simultaneously launching R&D on the second-generation products with a focus on miniaturized robotic arm design to enable real-time guided puncture even with small-bore CT systems; ultimately build a comprehensive ecosystem encompassing “equipment + consumables + energy platforms + services,” becoming an ecosystem leader in the field of percutaneous puncture.

Standing at the confluence of policy enablement and industry upgrading, Yishengxin’s future is clear and resolute:The second-generation miniaturized products will further lower the barrier to adoption at the primary care level, while expanded medical insurance coverage will extend the benefits of this technology to a broader population. The ecosystem strategy integrating “devices + consumables + energy platforms + services” is set to reshape the industrial landscape of puncture-based therapies.Behind this lies China’s ambition to transition its medical equipment industry from “following” to “leading,” the leap in medical-engineering integration from “isolated breakthroughs” to “systemic innovation,” and, above all, the original commitment to making precision medicine accessible to all rather than remaining a niche offering for the elite.

Expert Commentary:

Chen Yiqun, Shangjun Investment

From an investment perspective, Yishengxin Technology possesses the core elements of a high-growth medical technology target: First, it has deep technical barriers. Its dual-mode real-time guidance platform is a global first, with five invention patents building a moat. Furthermore, its open architecture, compatible with mainstream CT equipment, breaks the closed ecosystems of manufacturers, offering significantly greater market penetration elasticity than competitors. Second, its commercialization path is clear. By leveraging an upgrade solution that requires "no replacement of existing CT scanners," it rapidly enters benchmark Grade 3A hospitals, subsequently optimizing its revenue structure through consumable repurchases and energy platform integration. Third, the sector focus is precise. The penetration rate of robot-assisted puncture is only 1.6%, leaving a ten-year window of opportunity along with policy dividends for domestic substitution. Fourth, the team demonstrates strong execution capabilities through a multidisciplinary combination of medicine, industry, and commerce. Core members possess both the technology transfer gene from the Tsinghua University ecosystem and clinical resources from the PLA General Hospital (301 Hospital), while their history of successful exits helps mitigate execution risks.