AI-Powered Digital Pathology Platform 'Aibingli' Files IPO Prospectus Ahead of Chinese Physicians' Day
Physicians Are the Guardians of Human Health——In the laboratory, they overcome formidable challenges; under the shadowless surgical lights, they demonstrate skillful hands and compassionate hearts; before the microscope, they identify diseases and confirm diagnoses... The title of physician brings them not only glory and praise, but also mission and responsibility.
August 19, 2021, marked China’s fourth Chinese Doctors’ Day. The establishment of this day is intended to pay tribute to healthcare workers and express respect and care for them. The theme of this year’s Doctors’ Day is “Building Dreams Together on the Centenary, Upholding Original Aspirations Through Medical Responsibility.” Against the grand historical backdrop of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, this year’s Chinese Doctors’ Day holds significant meaning.
The construction of the healthcare system is vital to public health and serves as a crucial cornerstone for national development. In recent years, China has successively issued multiple guiding documents to support the development of smart healthcare, advocating for the strengthening of application foundations, comprehensive deepening of applications, and the standardization and promotion of medical service construction.
Pathology, serving as the “bridge discipline” between basic medicine and clinical medicine and regarded as the “gold standard” for the diagnosis of most diseases, has long occupied a relatively marginalized position. The imbalance between supply and demand has led to structural disparities. Not only are pathology professionals generally overburdened, but the quality control and diagnostic capabilities of pathology departments also remain difficult to improve.
With the increasing prevalence of diagnosis-intensive diseases, traditional pathology has gradually become unable to meet the evolving demands of modern medical diagnostics. The pain points in the field of pathology are clearly evident, making the implementation and development of “Smart Pathology” an urgent imperative.
Gaining Industry Insights, Responding to Policy Calls—Ai Bingli is committed to promoting the full digitalization and standardization of the pathology industry, facilitating the implementation of more intelligent assisted application scenarios on the basis of data security, and contributing innovative strength to the construction of smart hospitals under the wave of Digital China.
Since the establishment of the iPathology brand in March 2017, its series of products have served over 600 pathology units across China (including hospitals at all levels and third-party pathology testing centers). The number of pathologists with real-name registration on the iPathology APP has exceeded 16,000, and the Shishi AI system has been invoked more than 1.1 million times...
As Chinese Doctors’ Day approaches, iPathology has launched a campaign to collect voices from pathologists. Through personal narratives, participants share stories of their mutual growth with pathology departments, reflect on their original aspirations in medicine, and present clinical application cases of the iPathology product suite, thereby highlighting the significance of “Smart Pathology.” The campaign also extends festive greetings to healthcare professionals across society.
@He Ronghua, Department of Pathology, Datong Guomei General Hospital, Shanxi
Dr. He Ronghua, a pathologist at Datong Guomei General Hospital in Shanxi Province, was among the first group of learners on the Ai Bingli (Love Pathology) app. In this call for personal stories, Dr. He shared her four-year journey of “getting to know, understanding, and growing together” with Ai Bingli.
Traditionally, pathologists had to consult reference books or attend academic conferences to enhance their professional expertise. Now, with the Ai Bingli app, they can watch live-streamed courses online and learn about the most cutting-edge pathological knowledge. For any difficult cases that are hard to diagnose, they can post discussions on the community forum, leveraging collective wisdom to make problem-solving and answering queries much easier.
The Ai Bingli App is a multidimensional, efficient learning platform designed for pathology professionals, centered on “systematic, standardized learning and discussion of real-world cases.” It aims to eliminate gaps and difficulties in the acquisition and dissemination of pathological knowledge. By leveraging pathology informatics, the app builds educational bridges for more pathologists, thereby enhancing the soft power of departments in primary-care hospitals.
“Be new each day, renew daily, and innovate continuously—let innovation lead life.” This is the motto Dr. He has set for himself and his fellow pathology professionals, and it embodies the social value and significance behind the creation of the iPathology APP.
@Lincang CityLuo Lijuan, Department of Pathology, the Second People's Hospital
Coincidentally, Dr. Luo Lijuan from the Department of Pathology at the Second People's Hospital of Lincang also experienced the convenience brought by pathological informatization through the practical use of Ai Bingli products.
The Second People’s Hospital of Lincang, located in the southwestern border region, is a typical representative of grassroots hospitals. As pathologists working at such a facility, Dr. Luo’s team often feels considerable pressure. First, the hospital is situated in a remote southwestern border area with inconvenient transportation. Second, the department has a simple structure and suffers from staff shortages. Third, opportunities for external training are limited, leading to information isolation.
Through the AiBingli Shishi System, Lincang Second People's Hospital has broken through the constraints of time, space, and hierarchical barriers among hospitals—successfully enabling remote consultation and teleconsultation for complex cases. The successful implementation of remote work is attributable not only to advancements in pathology informatics but also to significant contributions from pathology digitalization technologies.
The digitalization of pathology facilitates unified management within the pathology department, promotes more direct collaboration with other departments such as surgery and radiology, fosters multidisciplinary integration, and thereby enhances the overall diagnostic and therapeutic efficiency and quality of the hospital.
For the implementation of smart pathology, a digital workflow serves as the foundational basis for any pathology department seeking to achieve intelligent operations and liberate pathologists from cumbersome work processes.
@Dr. Chen, Department of Pathology, a hospital in Zigong City, Sichuan Province
“In the past, I often struggled to accurately interpret cervical liquid-based cytology cases. Now, I can leverage the Shishi system for real-time AI-assisted analysis,” said Dr. Chen, a pathologist at a hospital in Zigong, Sichuan Province.
In recent years, China has actively promoted screening for the two major cancers. Currently, liquid-based thin-layer cytology (TCT) is a crucial method for cervical cancer screening. This remains a substantial undertaking even for pathology departments in large hospitals, let alone those in primary healthcare facilities.
At the Department of Pathology of a hospital in Zigong City, Sichuan Province, the AiBingli Shishi AI Teaching System has been implemented for trial use over several months. During this period, it has significantly assisted in the graded diagnosis of positive liquid-based cervical cytology, providing an additional layer of assurance for patients while substantially reducing the workload of pathologists.
With AI technology, pathologists no longer need to sit hunched over microscopes, meticulously and repeatedly examining limited fields of view. By simply connecting the digital microscope to the AiBingli app, they can capture and transmit microscopic images to their smartphones, allowing for direct viewing of clear and detailed slide samples on the mobile screen. Meanwhile, AI performs intelligent analysis of each field of view, identifying abnormal areas, thereby saving pathologists from time-consuming and laborious routine tasks. In clinical applications, AI-powered pathological products for cervical cancer screening have been the first to gain validation and recognition.
Dr. Chen candidly stated that the adoption of the iPathology AI teaching system represents a bold innovation by the hospital’s pathology department in AI-assisted cervical cancer screening. She believes that the widespread application of artificial intelligence will inevitably become a trend, empowering pathology workflows and reducing the burdensome, tedious, and highly repetitive tasks associated with screening. This will enable pathologists to utilize their personal resources and potential more efficiently, allowing them to make greater contributions to China’s cervical cancer screening efforts in their spare time.
The development of smart pathology helps pathology departments achieve standardization and accuracy throughout the entire testing process, shorten the time required for pathological diagnosis, and thereby enhance patient satisfaction.
In addition to the sincere insights shared by the three pathologists above, we have also received enthusiastic feedback from numerous institutions that have benefited from “Smart Pathology.” Pathologists are filled with anticipation for the realization of comprehensive informatization, digitalization, and intelligence in pathology.
On the occasion of Chinese Physicians’ Day, through a campaign collecting the voices of pathologists, we have gained deeper insights into the innovation and development within the pathology sector, and have come to appreciate the proactive spirit and dedicated contributions of pathologists. Healthcare professionals are the backbone of safeguarding public health, and strengthening and ensuring the development of the healthcare workforce is a key responsibility of health authorities at all levels.
Honoring Physicians’ Day, Gratitude to Healthcare Professionals—iPathology will continue to provide cutting-edge technology and services to healthcare workers, facilitating the informatization, digitalization, and intelligent transformation of more medical scenarios, thereby advancing China’s healthcare industry to new heights.