From Morphology to Functionality: AI Enables Faster and More Accurate Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Treatment
RaysightMed
Medical Imaging Product Developer
Source of the article: GMW.cn
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is penetrating every aspect of our lives at an unprecedented speed, and its application in the healthcare field is gradually moving to the front lines of diagnosis and treatment.
In November 2024, the National Health Commission, in conjunction with the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the National Disease Control Bureau, issued the "Reference Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence Application Scenarios in the Health Industry," clarifying the basic concepts and application scenarios of 84 subfields, providing a standardized development path for "artificial intelligence + healthcare."
Artificial intelligence, with its powerful data analysis, image recognition, and intelligent decision-making capabilities, demonstrates great potential in many aspects such as disease diagnosis, treatment planning, surgical assistance, and even medical resource management. It provides innovative solutions for addressing challenges in the medical industry, including inefficiency, risks of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis, and unequal distribution of medical resources.At the recent Oriental Cardiology Conference, RaysightMed's latest R&D achievement – the coronary artery function measurement system AngioQFA 100 – was announced to hit the market.
"In the past, in order to obtain the Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR), doctors had to insert a thin and long guidewire deep into the coronary arteries. The pressure sensor at its tip would collect blood flow information. This process is not only complicated, but also involves certain surgical risks and pain for the patients," said Zheng Lingxiao, founder and CEO of RaysightMed.Our coronary artery function measurement system, AngioQFA 100, utilizes non-invasive external measurements and AI algorithms to complete analysis reports within 3 to 5 minutes, significantly improving diagnostic efficiency while avoiding the surgical risks and discomfort associated with invasive guidewires.。”
Traditional diagnosis and treatment of coronary heart disease mainly rely on vascular morphological assessment, checking the degree of vascular stenosis through coronary CTA or angiography, but this cannot fully reflect the situation of myocardial ischemia. Zheng Lingxiao vividly compared it: "This is like checking whether the water pipe is blocked, but more crucially, whether the water flow is sufficient—essentially, the blood supply function of the blood vessels.。”
RaysightMed innovatively applies its self-developed AI, 3D simulation, and connected sensor chip technologies to transform the traditional model, which relies on doctors' experience to subjectively assess the degree of vascular stenosis through coronary CTA and angiography images and to place stents based on experience, into data-driven precision treatment.Achieving Three Major Innovations: From Morphology to Function, From Intervention to Non-invasive, From Single to ComprehensiveZheng Lingxiao introduced that the AngioQFA 100 Coronary Functional Measurement System is a one-stop system for assessing both coronary and microcirculatory functions, capable of simultaneously obtaining Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) and Index of Microcirculatory Resistance (IMR) in a single measurement. After more than 300 clinical trials, its accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity exceed 95% and approach 96%, placing it at an industry-leading level.
This shift from "looking at morphology" to "measuring function" stems from Zheng Lingxiao's interdisciplinary research experience, which spans from aircraft design at Beihang University to bioengineering at Johns Hopkins University. "My Ph.D. advisor at Johns Hopkins was a joint professor in both the mechanical engineering and medical schools, and his research topics all involved using engineering methods, such as 3D simulation algorithms, to solve problems in the medical field. He often said: 'The Essence of Engineering is Solving Practical Problems'. My research field has also shifted from gazing at the stars to staying grounded, utilizing technologies in the medical-engineering interdisciplinary field to solve practical medical problems."
Zheng Lingxiao introduced that behind a series of cutting-edge explorations is RaysightMed."Academic Research + Product Innovation" Dual-Drive StrategyIn terms of academic research, the company has deeply rooted itself in the forefront of scientific research on precision diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. It has been granted and applied for more than 200 patents, participated in promoting the release of the "Chinese Expert Consensus on the Clinical Pathway for the Application of Coronary CT Blood Flow Reserve Fraction" initiated by more than 40 authoritative experts from the *Chinese Journal of Interventional Cardiology*, and supported a large-scale, multi-center prospective non-invasive functional clinical study covering more than 40 cardiovascular centers with over 4,600 enrolled cases.
In terms of product innovation, RaysightMed focuses on the coronary functional measurement system AngioQFA 100 as its core engine,Built a full-course precision diagnosis and treatment solution covering "preoperative assessment - intraoperative diagnosis and intelligent treatment - postoperative intelligent management."The dual-wheel synergy forms a flywheel for the transformation of industry-academia-research-medical collaboration, where academic achievements feed back into algorithm optimization and iteration, and clinical needs drive continuous product upgrades. Currently, RaysightMed's clinical cooperation hospitals have exceeded 800, achieving safe usage by more than 200,000 patients.
When talking about future product plans, Zheng Lingxiao revealed,RaysightMed is about to launch the world's first fully automatic PCI surgery robot.The robot will enable operators to perform vascular interventional surgeries automatically driven by AI through voice commands, in scenarios without radiation and without lead aprons.
"Our goal isProviding doctors with intelligent 'brain', 'eye', and 'hand' that surpass human limits"Zheng Lingxiao said, 'By combining AI with surgical robots, we can make doctors more precise, efficient, and safer during the diagnosis and treatment process.'"
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Case Analysis | RaysightMed AngioQFA 100 Consumables Successfully Achieve Clinical Use