Yongchuan Tech: A Lifesaving Innovation in Stroke Care, Racing Against Time

Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability among adults in China. It is characterized by high incidence, high disability rates, and high mortality. The number of new cases continues to rise annually, with a trend toward affecting younger populations. Stroke is a race against time; every second during treatment directly determines the patient’s survival.

So, how can we outpace the "Grim Reaper"? Hangzhou Yongchuan Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yongchuan Technology") has provided us with an answer and a glimmer of hope: after years of dedicated research and development, Yongchuan Technology’s independently developed stroke triage device (hereinafter referred to as "MH-200"), which possesses full independent intellectual property rights, has been officially launched.

From the perspective of current diagnosis and treatment processes, after the onset of stroke, patients must wait to undergo brain CT or MRI at a hospital and may even need to be transferred to a facility with adequate treatment capabilities. For specific populations such as pregnant women and children, who are unsuitable for CT scans and contrast imaging involving radiation exposure, immediate diagnosis is often unattainable. This delays the golden window for treatment, directly leading to disability or death.

Yongchuan Technology’s MH-200 offers technical advantages such as non-invasive, contactless operation, radiation-free imaging, and real-time rapid image acquisition. It can quickly identify intracranial hemorrhage and cerebral infarction, while transmitting brain data in real time to display terminals, enabling physicians to promptly visualize abnormal brain conditions and make timely decisions on treatment plans. Its radiation-free design makes it suitable for all patient populations. Furthermore, its compact and portable design allows flexible deployment on various mobile platforms, including ambulances, aircraft, and ships, supporting on-site emergency care and military mobile medical services. This facilitates rapid pre-hospital triage and provides a convenient and effective new device and solution for stroke management.

Currently, only the Cerebrotech Visor from the United States and Yongchuan Technology’s MH-200 share a similar product direction globally. The Cerebrotech Visor was recognized by U.S. authorities as one of the “Top 10 Medical Innovations of the Year” in 2019. While the Cerebrotech Visor can only quantify left-right brain imbalance, Yongchuan Technology’s MH-200 significantly outperforms it in functionality. Leveraging proprietary innovative technology, the MH-200 not only provides quantitative data on left-right cerebral asymmetry comparable to the Cerebrotech Visor but also generates intuitive visual simulations of the brain, thereby offering physicians more accurate qualitative information.

Building on this foundation, Yongchuan Technology has fully leveraged the technical advantages of non-invasive, radiation-free, rapid imaging, and portability to simultaneously develop compact devices tailored for primary brain screening and health check-ups. These devices can be deployed in large-scale health examination centers and healthcare institutions at all levels, facilitating routine check-ups and extending initial brain disease screening to grassroots communities and remote mountainous areas. This approach truly realizes the goal of “early detection and early treatment,” addressing current market challenges such as the bulky size, radiation exposure, and limited accessibility (“last mile” issues) of existing brain imaging equipment, and may potentially reshape the clinical landscape of mobile medical imaging devices.

The Yongchuan Technology team stated, “Starting from the ‘head,’ we will closely align with the clinical needs of stroke care, prioritize public welfare, and pursue continuous innovation.”

It is reported that Hangzhou Yongchuan Technology’s MH-200 has recently successfully completed multi-center registration clinical trials and has entered the stage of applying for regulatory approval, with certification expected in the second half of 2024. The team is currently actively establishing market sales channels. They also hope to collaborate with public welfare organizations to deliver their products and services to where they are truly needed.

Hangzhou Yongchuan Technology Co., Ltd., established in 2012, is a national high-tech enterprise integrating the research and development, manufacturing, sales, and service of digital medical electronic products. The company’s projects and products have been successively included in key special projects under the National Key R&D Program—specifically the “Diagnostic and Therapeutic Equipment and Biomedical Materials” special project—as well as in the National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, Zhejiang Provincial Key R&D Program projects, Zhejiang Province’s first medical device innovation project, municipal major science and technology special projects, municipal key biomedical projects, and municipal “115” key projects. Adhering to its corporate mission of “Innovative Services, Precision Diagnosis and Treatment,” Yongchuan Technology is committed to providing safer, more efficient, and more precise domestically produced high-tech medical devices to meet unmet clinical needs.