Lung cancer is the malignant tumor with the highest incidence and mortality rates in China. According to data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there were 816,000 new cases of lung cancer and 715,000 deaths in China in 2020. The number of deaths was nearly twice that of liver cancer, which ranked second with 391,000 deaths.
According toShi Jianfeng, Founder of Sanmed AitechIntroduction: Early screening for lung cancer can effectively help patients detect lesions at an early stage and is a crucial measure to reduce lung cancer mortality. “Seventy-five percent of lung cancer patients are already in the middle or late stages at initial diagnosis, resulting in a current 5-year survival rate of only 19.7% for lung cancer patients in China. If Stage I diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer can be promoted, the 5-year survival rate for patients will exceed 60%. In particular, if patients are promptly identified at Stage Ia1 and receive interventional therapy, their 10-year survival rate is expected to reach 92%.”
“Early screening, early diagnosis, and early treatment” are effective measures to reduce lung cancer mortality, among which the precise diagnosis and treatment as well as scientific management of pulmonary nodules are particularly important.
With the rapid advancement of AI technology in recent years, its application in medical imaging, particularly in oncologic imaging, has become increasingly widespread. The use of AI helps improve the speed and accuracy of diagnoses by radiologists and pathologists, reduces rates of missed and misdiagnoses, minimizes inter-observer variability, and alleviates workloads, demonstrating broad application prospects in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.
Against this backdrop, ZHUHAI HENGQIN SANMED AITECH LTD. is committed toEmpowering Existing Technologies for Early Tumor Diagnosis with AI, including liquid biopsy methods for tumors, imaging detection techniques, and more, thereby providing physicians and patients with comprehensive intelligent disease course management services for oncology.
The company currently holds 29 domestic and international intellectual property rights related to its core businesses. Leveraging its unique technological advantages in deep learning, algorithmic analysis, and liquid biopsy for tumors, it has developed a Multi-Dimensional Data Analysis System for Pulmonary Nodules. This system assists physicians in improving workflow efficiency and detection accuracy, making disease screening, diagnosis, intervention, and patient management more effective, rapid, and precise. It delivers a comprehensive AI-enabled solution for the early screening, diagnosis, and treatment of lung cancer. Currently, the company’s relevant products and services have been applied to numerous patients with pulmonary nodules and are provided to over 200 medical institutions across China.
A "Dual-AI" Joint Diagnostic Approach from Imaging to Cytology
According to incomplete statistics, there are 120 million patients with pulmonary nodules in China, among whom 80 million have small nodules less than 0.8 cm in diameter. These nodules are classified as benign or malignant; over 95% of pulmonary nodules are benign, but the remaining 5% may represent early-stage lung cancer, which often progresses to advanced stages within 3–5 years.
Shi Jianfeng stated, “For stage Ia1 lung cancer—specifically pulmonary nodules measuring 5–10 mm in diameter—scientific and timely diagnosis is of significant importance to patients. However, achieving such early-stage diagnosis requires the stable detection of lung cancer-associated circulating abnormal cells (CAC) in the blood, combined with multidimensional analysis incorporating changes observed in CT imaging.”
Sanmed AitechInPioneered the world’s first CAC-AI analysis technology based on circulating abnormal cells, enabling ultra-high-sensitivity detection of CACs in blood samples with a sensitivity of 1 in 100,000.. Meanwhile, the company has also developed CT-AI technology based on chest CT imaging, whichJoint Application of Two Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Combined Cytological and Imaging Discrimination of Pulmonary Nodules in PatientsBy integrating a comprehensive data operations and management system, with final confirmation jointly provided by pathologists and radiologists, a holistic solution for the early diagnosis of lung cancer has been established.
CT-AI serves as an imaging consultant for clinicians, improving detection rates with a sensitivity of 96%. It enables automated nodule segmentation, measurement, classification, tracking, and follow-up, thereby enhancing measurement accuracy. The system automatically analyzes pulmonary nodule characteristics, precisely determines nodule composition, and assists in the differential diagnosis of benign versus malignant nodules. Additionally, it provides recommendations for pulmonary nodule classification and lesion management, along with personalized clinical advice.
CAC-AI serves as an analytical tool for clinical pathologists, assisting physicians in achieving AI-based assessment of pulmonary nodules at the cytological level through tumor liquid biopsy using CAC detection technology. Originating from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in the United States, this CAC detection technology targets four lung cancer-specific chromosomal variation regions to quantify the number of CACs in blood samples, thereby indicating the risk of benign or malignant pulmonary nodules.
CAC-AI combined with CT-AI provides multidimensional clinical evidence, ranging from imaging to cellular chromosomal variations.complementing each other, and integrating with the patient management system to comprehensively improve the accuracy of pulmonary nodule detection and the level of comprehensive diagnosis and treatment, thereby achieving assisted diagnosis of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules and early diagnosis of lung cancer.
Medical AI Companies, Not AI Medical Companies
“AI technology enters tumor diagnosis, with two benefits. The first isHigh-Throughput, machines are tireless and can operate continuously 24 hours a day. Second, they canElevating Primary Care Physicians to the Level of Chief Physicians at Tertiary Hospitals, to address the issue of uneven distribution of medical resources,” said Shi Jianfeng. “ButAI Is Merely an Auxiliary Tool for Physicians, this point needs to be clarified.”
Shi Jianfeng believes that for the early diagnosis of lung cancer, it is difficult to provide timely and accurate scientific diagnostic conclusions based solely on single-dimensional imaging examinations. Given the clear and significant importance of early lung cancer diagnosis, this has become the premise and opportunity for AI technology to serve as an auxiliary tool in the early diagnosis of lung cancer.
In specific operational workflows, CT-AI and CAC-AI have distinct roles. CT-AI is suitable for screening small pulmonary nodules. In terms of imaging analysis, optimized AI software demonstrates superior efficiency in image interpretation compared to radiologists; while an experienced radiologist typically requires an average of 15 minutes to interpret a CT scan, AI may complete the task in just 10 seconds. If pulmonary nodules are detected, AI can assess their malignant risk based on imaging features. For cases with a high risk of malignancy, CAC detection technology can be employed as an adjunctive diagnostic tool for early-stage lung cancer.
However, compared to the number of patients with mid-to-late stage lung cancer, the patient population in the early diagnosis phase is extremely large. Moreover, CAC detection technology requires the identification and assessment of tens of thousands of cells per patient, imposing an overwhelming workload that is unsustainable for current clinicians. CAC-AI can significantly reduce the workload for pathologists and laboratory physicians on a large scale, thereby improving the efficiency of clinical diagnosis.
“The combined application of CT-AI and CAC-AI can provide clinicians with information from two dimensions simultaneously, facilitating more timely and scientific judgments on the benign or malignant nature of early-stage lung nodules. Currently,”Achieved a 90% accuracy rate in the auxiliary diagnosis of benign and malignant lung cancer nodules within 1 cm.“If we rely solely on CT-AI technology, the accuracy rate may be only around 70%,” said Shi Jianfeng.
Shi Jianfeng stated, “Through the combined AI-assisted diagnostic approach integrating CT-AI and CAC-AI, we have collaborated with multiple hospitals and health examination centers across China.”In terms of CT-AI, portal accounts have been activated for over 100 clinical hospitals in China, with nearly 6,000 sample tests completed on a trial basis. In terms of CAC-AI, collaborations have been established with more than 200 medical institutions., including West China Hospital, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Zhuhai People's Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, and Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai, completing testing trials on over 3,000 samples.”
The original intention behind the establishment of ZHUHAI HENGQIN SANMED AITECH LTD. was “to drive the clinical application of innovative technologies in tumor liquid biopsy through artificial intelligence.” Focusing on the present, the company is committed to integrating its comprehensive solutions for CT-AI and CAC-AI with the patient management system developed in collaboration with the China Lung Cancer Prevention and Treatment Alliance. By combining these “three musketeers” and promoting their adoption in clinical practice, the company aims to truly realize the value of its technologies.
Looking to the future, ZHUHAI HENGQIN SANMED AITECH LTD. will continue to deepen its expertise in early cancer diagnosis, using lung cancer as a breakthrough point to expand its “imaging AI + biological AI + big data operations” early detection solution to other cancer types, providing valuable solutions and services for clinical practice and scientific research, thereby benefiting more cancer patients.
Selection of the Top 50 Biotech Innovation Enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
“Top 50 Biotech Innovation Enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” selection campaign is hosted by Zhongchuang Industrial Research Institute and organized by Guangdong Medical Valley. The selection aims to cultivate an integrated innovation ecosystem combining industry, academia, and research in the Greater Bay Area, promote the in-depth integration and development of biotechnology—a strategic emerging industry—across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, clearly document the developmental trajectory of biotech innovation in the region, and drive the growth of the local biotechnology sector.
The selection covers three sectors: medical devices, biopharmaceuticals and technology, and healthcare services. It will comprehensively evaluate participating companies’ technological innovation and future development prospects from three dimensions: innovative technology, market application, and capital. A panel of expert judges, comprising representatives from government agencies, third-party research firms, professional investment institutions, and healthcare organizations, will conduct in-depth site visits and due diligence before selecting an authoritative list of innovative enterprises. This initiative aims to identify future unicorns in the biotechnology sector within the Greater Bay Area and showcase the region’s urban clusters’ achievements in developing the biotechnology industry.
“Top 50 Biotech Innovation Enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” has garnered extensive attention and coverage from government agencies, scholars and experts, media outlets, and biotechnology companies since its inaugural edition in 2018.