Yitu Healthcare launches two cancer-related products

Hangzhou Yitu Healthcare Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese startup focusing on AI medical solutions, unveiled two new products on Wednesday at the ongoing annual meeting of Radiological Society of North America, a well-regarded community in global radiology.

One of the products launched is an intelligent 4D imaging system for chest CT, which is the world's first AI system that can deliver imaging-based diagnosis for all the type of lesions in lung.

The product has the potential to greatly reduce the workload of radiologists, and increase the feasibility for large-scale early cancer screening, the company said.

China's medical AI has developed rapidly over a short period of time, but many can only detect pulmonary nodules — small rounds or growths in lung, according to Jin Zhengyu, chairman of Chinese Society of Radiology.

That provides little assistance to radiologists in clinical practice, because pulmonary nodules only account for about 50 percent of lung lesions in a chest CT, Jin said.

In addition to the Intelligent 4D Imaging System for Chest CT, the company also announced a cancer screening intelligent diagnosis and treatment platform, which can provide doctors services such as imaging detection, lesion analysis, clinical decision-making assistance, and patient management for multiple cancers.

According to the latest Annual World Cancer Report, released by the World Health Organization in November, the world will have 18.1 million new cancer cases in 2018, and 9.6 million cancer deaths.

In China, cancers with high morbidity and mortality, such as lung cancer and breast cancer, have also become urgent public health concerns.