Hisense Medical Unveils 4K Fluorescence Endoscopy System, Marking Strategic Entry into High-End Medical Endoscopy Market

9Early this month, the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "Guidance Catalog for the Promotion and Application of Major Technical Equipment (First Set) ("2024Year Edition)” was publicized. The guidance catalog covers various high-end medical devices, including computer-assisted endoscopic surgery systems and ultrasonic electronic endoscopy systems., for these devicesStandard requirements have been established for all core technical indicators.，Provided strong policy support for the research, development, and application of domestically produced endoscopes,withEncourage innovation and breakthroughs in key technologies,andFor the Competitiveness of High-End Domestically Produced Equipmentandhas provided important support for its promotion and application.

Under the policy framework, Hisense Medical, as a representative of domestic high-end medical device enterprises, successfully obtained the Class II Medical Device Registration Certificate issued by the NMPA for its independently developed 4K fluorescence endoscope in May 2024. This milestone not only marks Hisense Medical’s formal entry into strategic layout in the field of high-end medical endoscopy, with the 4K fluorescence endoscope as its initial offering, but also signifies that the company’s existing solutions for minimally invasive surgery and other areas have gained an important new addition, further enhancing the completeness of its product ecosystem.

In late September, Hisense Medical showcased its self-developed 4K fluorescence endoscope at both the 8th Silk Road Expo and provincial-level academic conferences. Among these events, the one held on September 20The 8th Silk Road ExpoThemed “Deepening Interconnectivity and Expanding Economic and Trade Cooperation,” the event comprehensively showcases the achievements of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative and promotes the expansion of international economic and trade cooperation. Held on September 27,The 2nd Academic Conference of the 1st Session of the Multidisciplinary Treatment Committee for Hepatobiliary Tumors, Shandong Medical Education Association, and the Qilu Hepatobiliary Surgery Forum & Training Course of the Qilu Laparoscopic Ultrasound AcademyIt showcases the latest research findings in the industry and creates a platform for academic exchange.

The 8th Silk Road Expo – Hisense Medical Booth

Attending Experts Perform On-Site Demonstration of Hisense 4K Fluorescence Endoscope

Having made appearances at international exhibitions on two consecutive occasionsandAcademic Activities，Feng Zerong, Deputy General Manager of the Endoscopy Business Division at Hisense Medical“Since obtaining the certification in May, Hisense Medical has been actively promoting the clinical application of 4K fluorescence endoscopes and vigorously carrying out market promotion activities. The specific market strategy mainly focuses on two core directions.”

“Our primary task is to actively expand into the domestic market by participating in relevant academic conferences and establishing in-depth collaborations with major hospitals and leading experts in China. Furthermore, we are planning a gradual expansion into international markets. Our participation in the 8th Silk Road Expo marks the beginning of our overseas market deployment. Leveraging the Belt and Road Initiative, we plan to initially focus on Central Asia, West Asia, and Southeast Asia, progressively exploring and expanding the international business of our endoscopy products,” Feng Zerong continued.

As an essential tool for minimally invasive surgery and the “gold standard” for early screening of various cancers, endoscopes are playing an increasingly important role in modern medicine. This is particularly driven by the rising demand for endoscopic examinations due to an aging society, as well as the continuous improvement of medical infrastructure.The market size of medical endoscopes in China is growing rapidly, with a growth rate significantly higher than that of the global market.

According to Frost & Sullivan’s research data, the global market size for medical endoscopes reached $20.3 billion in 2020. Driven by the global trend toward minimally invasive procedures and the increasing penetration rate of early screening, the global endoscopy market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 7% from 2020 to 2030. In contrast, China’s minimally invasive surgeryStrong demand,In an upward phase.In 2020, the market size of medical endoscopes in China was RMB 23.1 billion, and it is expected that2030It is projected to reach RMB 62.4 billion, with a CAGR of 10.5%, and may surpass Japan to become the world’s second-largest endoscopy market, indicating particularly broad prospects.

Prior to this, China’s endoscopy market was long dominated by overseas brands, whose market share once exceeded 90%. However, since the beginning of 2024, this landscape has undergone significant changes. Domestic endoscopes have gradually shifted from initial reliance on imports and imitation-based modifications toward a trajectory of learning-driven innovation and in-depth collaboration.

Driven by soaring sales, technological innovation, and a continuous stream of new product launches, Chinese domestic endoscope brands have confidently taken center stage, competing directly with overseas giants and demonstrating strong momentum in catching up. In this regard, Frost & Sullivan predicts that the market share of domestically produced endoscopic products will further increase to over 35%, achieving substantial growth.

Within this team, Hisense Medical has been committed to surpassing high-end technological barriers. Through long-term technical accumulation and continuous innovation, it has successively launched full-scenario smart solutions, including minimally invasive surgery and ultrasound diagnosis and treatment, as well as innovative achievements such as the recently approved 4K fluorescence endoscope, 3D endoscopic display monitor, AI-powered intelligent screen for digestive endoscopy, and the HD80 ultrasound system. These efforts have realized the domestic production of high-end, innovative medical equipment and comprehensive service solutions.

Regarding the Hisense 4K Fluorescence Endoscope showcased at international exhibitions and academic conferences, Feng Zerong stated, “Driven by policies and market forces, although there are numerous domestic brands of 4K fluorescence endoscopes currently on the market, their product quality varies significantly, posing challenges for hospitals in selection and tendering processes.”

“Hisense’s 4K fluorescence endoscope has been positioned in the high-end medical endoscopy market since its inception. Addressing product pain points exposed during rapid development, Hisense Medical has leveraged the company’s and Hisense Group’s extensive expertise in image processing technology, along with strict control over product quality and performance, to focus on resolving key issues such as product stability and performance degradation after prolonged use. By delivering high-quality, high-standard premium medical endoscopes, we aim to enhance the recognition of Chinese endoscopy brands among healthcare institutions both domestically and internationally, thereby effectively increasing our market share,” said Feng Zerong.

To standardize industry development and promote the widespread adoption of endoscopic surgical techniques, China has issued multiple relevant standards and policies in recent years. For instance, the "Expert Consensus on Clinical Evaluation Systems for Medical Endoscopes," released in 2020, analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of domestically produced endoscopes from various dimensions and proposed recommendations for improvement, thereby providing direction for the enhancement and optimization of Chinese-made endoscopes.

Furthermore, the latest “Expert Consensus on Clinical Application Evaluation of Domestically Produced High-End 4K Fluorescence Medical Endoscopes in Thoracic Surgery Across China,” released in 2023, provides direction for the research, development, and innovation of high-end domestic laparoscopes, promotes the widespread adoption of superior domestically produced medical endoscopes, and fosters the advancement of China’s domestic medical equipment industry.

“Hisense Medical has been committed to promoting the development of China’s high-end endoscopy industry since 2021. Leveraging key laboratories, we have conducted in-depth R&D and established an Endoscopy Business Unit. Through the team’s relentless efforts, the company successfully obtained the registration certificate for its first domestically produced 4K fluorescence high-end medical endoscope in 2024, formally launching its strategic layout in the field of high-end medical endoscopy,” introduced Feng Zerong.

Endoscopes are core medical devices for minimally invasive procedures. Their image quality directly impacts surgical outcomes and the innovation of surgical techniques, serving as a key indicator of technological advancement. To enhance the performance of domestically produced medical endoscopes and thereby improve healthcare standards, the Hisense Medical team is driving Chinese-made medical endoscopes toward greater stability, intelligence, clarity, and precision across four key dimensions.

Real-time image transmission during endoscopic surgery is crucial for ensuring that physicians can respond rapidly to visual information. To guarantee "hand-eye synchronization" and enhance operational comfort for surgeons, Hisense Medical has significantly improved its products' image signal processing and transmission capabilities through self-developed algorithms, achieving low-latency image transmission at an industry-leading level.

Furthermore, regarding the long-term stability of product performance, Feng Zerong added, “Existing domestically produced endoscopes demonstrate excellent performance during simple surgeries lasting up to two hours. However, when surgical procedures extend to five hours or longer, some products may experience image quality degradation, thereby compromising the continuity and safety of the surgery. In response, the Hisense 4K Fluorescence Endoscope has undergone rigorous stability testing, ensuring that image quality and performance remain unaffected even during procedures lasting five hours or more, thus supporting continuous use in prolonged surgeries.”

With continuous technological advancements, endoscopes have gradually evolved into modern devices with diverse functionalities. In particular, the integration of artificial intelligence is driving endoscopic technology toward higher definition and greater intelligence. In response, Hisense Medical has focused on the development and application of intelligent technologies. Its 4K fluorescence endoscopy system is equipped with multiple proprietary intelligent image algorithms, including vessel enhancement, intelligent smoke removal, and dark-field enhancement. These features ensure a clear surgical field even in extreme scenarios, thereby improving surgical efficiency and safety.

Leveraging 4K resolution and ultra-wide color gamut technologies, the Hisense 4K Fluorescence Endoscopy System provides physicians with high-definition images featuring minute details of microvasculature and tissue textures, enabling significant differentiation between various tissue types. Furthermore, while meeting the standards for the Color Rendering Index (CRI), the system substantially increases luminous flux, thereby minimizing dark fields and blind spots during surgery. This enhancement in imaging quality improves the speed and precision of intraoperative decision-making by physicians.

Hisense 4K Fluorescence Endoscope, used in conjunction with the fluorescent contrast agent indocyanine green (ICG), is suitable for clinical applications such as intraoperative tumor boundary localization, gallbladder visualization and resection, wedge resection of lung lobes, visualization and identification of pulmonary nodules, visualization and identification of sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer, parathyroid gland visualization, and visualization of bladder and prostate cancers.

The system’s high fluorescence sensitivity enables the detection of low-concentration fluorescent markers, thereby allowing clear identification of minute lesion areas. This capability is particularly crucial for early cancer screening and diagnosis. More importantly, through the fusion of 4K white-light and fluorescence images, it provides physicians with more precise fluorescence-guided localization.

Leveraging advantages such as high-precision image registration, superior fluorescence sensitivity, and leading low-latency imaging, Hisense Medical will integrate its 4K fluorescence endoscope with various surgical assistance technologies, including Hisense ultrasound and intelligent surgical navigation systems, while achieving fused display of multiple images on a single screen. Furthermore, the 4K fluorescence endoscope will be integrated into Hisense’s existing full-scenario smart solutions for minimally invasive surgery and medical displays, providing more comprehensive support to physicians.

Feng Zerong cited as an example, “Hisense 4K Fluorescence Endoscope features industry-exclusive capabilities such as a surgical navigation system. It can seamlessly integrate with Hisense’s self-developed surgical navigation system to overlay 4K fluorescence laparoscopic images with three-dimensional reconstructed images on the same screen, enabling visualized and quantifiable precise localization and marking of tumor lesions, thereby enhancing the precision and safety of surgical procedures.”

From the perspective of development trends in the healthcare industry, as technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data are increasingly applied and popularized in the medical field, a consensus has gradually emerged within the industry: companies must not only compete on the originality of their technological products but also prepare for future competitions characterized by the integration and convergence of high-end technologies.

Against this backdrop, Feng Zerong also outlined the company’s next steps in R&D: “Hisense Medical’s Endoscopy Division is developing a 3D 4K fluorescence-integrated endoscopic camera system with independent intellectual property rights, encompassing both 3D white-light and 3D fluorescence technologies. The new product is expected to be launched within 2025, which will further enhance Hisense Medical’s capabilities in high-end technology integration and strengthen its brand influence in the premium medical endoscopy sector.”

As China’s healthcare industry enters a stage of high-quality development, competition in the market for medical endoscopes—high-end medical devices—is becoming increasingly intense. This competition is accelerating the evolution of endoscopic technology toward intelligence, precision, and high efficiency.Amid the explosive growth of domestically produced endoscopes, Hisense Medical, inheriting the profound technological DNA of Hisense Group, demonstrates immense development potential. It will continue to inject new momentum into the innovation and advancement of minimally invasive surgery, contributing to the progress of the healthcare industry while enhancing patients’ health and well-being.