In 1895, the discovery of X-ray laid a foundation for the development of radiology. With the continuous improvement of various new imaging technologies, radiology developed from simple X-ray imaging to the modern imaging stage including CT, MRI, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, CR, DR and other digital imaging technologies. In the 21st century, medical imaging equipment has entered a new era of vigorous development. Higher resolution, faster scanning speed, multi-functional integration and integration of multiple imaging equipment have become the basic trend of medical imaging technology development.
I. Representative technical products of medical imaging
At present, there are four commonly used medical imaging diagnostic techniques :
A. X-ray Imaging
B. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
C. Nuclear Medical Imaging (NMI)
D. Ultrasonography (USG)
Ii. Global industrial development pattern
From the perspective of global industry market scale, with more and more attention paid to the prevention of chronic diseases, the global imaging diagnostic equipment market scale is expanding. In 2012, the global medical device market sales volume reached us $349 billion, among which the sales volume of imaging diagnostic products reached US $36.1 billion, ranking the third place in the global medical device market with a market share of 10.3%. It is expected that in 2018, the global market share of imaging diagnostic equipment will grow at an average annual rate of 3.8%, and the market sales will reach 45.1 billion yuan, while the compound growth rate of different segments is about 15%-40%.
According to the distribution of medical imaging companies in the world, the degree of industrial agglomeration is constantly improving. The world's top ten medical imaging companies account for 92% of the global market share (Table 1), of which the top three are Siemens, General Electric and Philips. According to Evaluate MedTech2, Siemens will remain the "no. 1" diagnostic imaging company in the world in 2018, with sales rising to $12.9 billion and 28.7% of the global market share. Ge will close the gap with Siemens, forecasting annual growth of 5 per cent.
From the perspective of future market demand, with the aging of the population, changes in lifestyle and safety problems caused by the environment, the incidence of chronic diseases is increasing year by year globally, which will increase people's rigid demand for digital medical imaging diagnostic instruments. In Shanghai, for example, cancer has become the second cause of death after cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. A study of cancer surveillance data in Shanghai over the past 30 years shows that the incidence, death and current incidence of cancer in Shanghai are at a high level in China and continue to rise. Therefore, advanced medical equipment and efficient clinical solutions have become the most urgent needs of patients and medical institutions.
Iii. Industrial technology development trend
Medical imaging technology is the combination of high and new technology and medicine. In recent years, developed countries and regions such as the United States, Europe and Japan have strengthened strategic layout in the medical imaging diagnosis industry, aiming to drive a variety of medical imaging equipment to the direction of miniaturization, specialization, high resolution and rapid development. At present, the development of digital medical imaging technology has the following major trends:
1. Development from tissue and organ imaging to molecular imaging. The development of modern medical imaging equipment will develop from the initial morphological analysis to the comprehensive analysis of human physiological functions. By developing new tools, reagents, and methods to detect abnormalities at the cellular and molecular levels during disease progression. This will open new horizons in the exploration of disease occurrence, development and outcome, evaluation of drug efficacy and molecular level treatment. At the same time, as contrast agent is a necessary drug for imaging diagnosis and interventional therapy, in the future, a variety of new contrast agents targeting specific gene expression, specific metabolic process, and special physiological function will gradually appear.
2. Miniaturization and networking. With the development of new technology, medical imaging equipment has been transformed to bedside diagnosis. Small and simple bedside instruments will be more and more applied, which will provide rapid, accurate and reliable information for intensive care, family medicine, preventive health care, etc., and improve the timeliness and pertinence of doctors' diagnosis for patients. At the same time, networking will also speed up the imaging process, shorten the time of diagnosis, is conducive to image preservation and transmission. The basic idea of modern medical imaging is realized through image network, and the high unity and sharing of human resources, material resources and intellectual resources are achieved.
3. Polymorphic fusion technology integrates diagnosis and treatment. The information provided by medical images can be classified into anatomical images (such as CT, MRI, b-scan, etc.) and functional images (such as SPECT, PET, etc.). Due to the limitation of image information caused by different imaging principles, the effect of using one kind of image alone is not ideal. Therefore, the development of new image fusion equipment and new image processing methods will become an important direction in computer surgical simulation or treatment planning. At the same time, new medical imaging equipment (such as CT and X-ray angiography) containing more than two imaging technologies will be more popular, the integration of diagnosis and treatment will make the diagnosis of a variety of diseases more timely, accurate, better treatment effect.
4. 3D printing auxiliary medical images. With the continuous combination of 3D printing technology with medical image modeling and simulation technology, 3D printing technology shows a broad application prospect in the medical and health industry. By converting the DICOM data obtained by X-ray, CT machine and MRI into the data of 3D printer, the medical model can be quickly and accurately made, and the operation can be simulated by the medical model before the complex operation, so that doctors can fully make the planning and scheme design before the operation, and improve the success rate of the operation. At present, the Department of Pulmonary Surgery of Daping Hospital in Chongqing has carried out the world's first 3D CT-guided video-assisted ground-glass pneumonectomy, and the actual results show that the application of 3D printing technology in the field of surgery significantly improves the accuracy of surgery.
Iv. Development status and Suggestions of Medical imaging diagnosis industry in China
At present, the scale of China's medical device market maintains rapid growth and will become the third largest market in the world after the United States and Japan. It is expected that the total market size will increase from RMB 242 billion in 2012 to RMB 597 billion in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate of 19.8%. Among them, medical imaging diagnostic equipment is the largest in China's medical device market segment, accounting for 38% of the market share.
From the perspective of the overall domestic industry, there are four major trends:
First, multinational enterprises occupy more than 75% market share, while Siemens of Germany, GE of the United States and Philips of The Netherlands occupy the main market share in China. In the middle and high-end market, the share of these enterprises even exceeds 80%.
Second, the products of local enterprises mainly focus on the middle and low-end equipment, making it difficult to break through from the middle and low-end market to the high-end market.
Third, the r&d subjects are mostly distributed in the southeast coastal areas, and the small and medium-sized enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta with Shanghai as the center are active with rapid industrial development. The regional strengths represented by Wuxi (medical ultrasound), Nanjing (microwave, radiofrequency tumor hyperthermia) and Ningbo (MRI) are outstanding.
Fourth, Shanghai stands out in the field of imaging diagnosis, with a number of imaging diagnostic medical device enterprises such as Lianying, Shanghai Medical Devices, And Meisheng Medical.
Based on the above analysis, it is suggested that domestic digital medical imaging enterprises should break through the "three highs". We will strengthen the r&d layout and make breakthroughs in key technologies in the following aspects:
1. High resolution is a common requirement of almost all medical imaging devices. If the deeper and finer tissues of the human body can be detected, problems can be identified earlier. In the early days, there were 24 channels and 32 channels in ultrasonic equipment, but now 256 channels will be introduced. CT has been improved from single layer to 16 layers and will continue to be improved to improve the flexibility of judgment and scanning and the space volume of scanning tissues or organs by improving image quality and tissue type discrimination.
2. High integration speed up the integration of quantitative diagnosis, molecular imaging, infrared imaging and other technologies in medical imaging with interventional therapy, so as to promote the improvement and innovation of new imaging technologies and image processing methods. At the same time, the continuous combination of 3D printing technology and medical image assisted analysis should be strengthened to lay out relevant cutting-edge technologies and seize the technological plateau.
3, high-end, by strengthening image communication, image acquisition, laser scanning system and other aspects of research and development, to further develop the application of high-frequency, digital technology. Enterprises are encouraged to carry out joint industry-university-research projects, vigorously develop domestic high-end equipment manufacturers represented by Lianying, and accelerate the localization process of high-end medical imaging equipment.