Health is an eternal topic of mankind, in the context of the increasing contradiction between the aging of the population and the limited medical resources, artificial intelligence technology with its strong analysis and decision-making ability to fully empower all aspects of the hospital, hospital, and post-hospital, improve the level and efficiency of diagnosis and treatment, and promote the rational allocation of medical resources.
1. AI technology fully empowers the medical and health industry
Using massive amounts of data to train algorithmic models with the ability to learn autonomously, and then simulate human behavior, that is, artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence technology can greatly improve work efficiency and accuracy, reduce labor costs, create a more convenient experience, has been widely used in medical, financial, retail and other industries, virtual people, meta-universe and other emerging tracks are also inseparable from the support of artificial intelligence technology.
Medical health is one of the main areas where artificial intelligence technology has taken the lead in achieving large-scale application. Artificial intelligence technology has achieved comprehensive penetration in multiple links such as disease-assisted screening and diagnosis, clinical treatment-assisted decision-making, drug research and development, medical research, medical informatization, etc., creating a convenient and efficient medical experience for patients, and improving the work efficiency of medical institutions, physical examination institutions, and pharmaceutical equipment companies.
AI+ assisted screening and diagnosis
In the link of disease-assisted screening and diagnosis, after training with massive medical imaging data, the AI algorithm model can analyze multimodal images such as CT, MR, DR, and ultrasound, assist doctors in lesion screening and evaluation, and realize the screening and diagnosis of multiple parts and diseases.
AI+ Clinical Treatment Decisions
In the clinical treatment decision-making process, the AI model can formulate corresponding preoperative planning based on disease screening and diagnosis results, based on disease knowledge and classic case data, and realize functions such as surgical navigation and prognosis assessment.
AI+ drug development
In the field of drug research and development, AI models can assist in target discovery after learning a large amount of literature, realize the targeted intelligent monitoring of molecular design and molecular screening, accurately recruit and monitor the subject population. The application of AI technology in the field of drug research and development covers the whole cycle from compound research to post-market research, shortening the research and development cycle of new drugs and reducing research and development costs.
AI+ medical informatization
In the field of medical informatization, hospitals can establish databases to integrate internal management, business, and electronic case data to achieve information sharing and data integration and utilization, which on the one hand improves management efficiency and provides support for scientific research and clinical research on the other hand.
Medical robots
In the pre-diagnosis stage, the medical robot can provide guidance and pre-consultation services; in the treatment stage, the surgical robot can assist the doctor in preoperative planning, intraoperative positioning and navigation and surgical operations; in the post-diagnosis stage, the rehabilitation robot can assist the human body to complete limb movements, assist in the formulation of rehabilitation plans, and shorten the recovery cycle.
AI+ Brain Science
Brain-computer interfaces are the cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence in the field of health care. After the user's brain signal is collected, processed, decoded and converted according to the specific application requirements, the control of computer systems, machine systems (rehabilitation robots, neural prosthetics, etc.) and other peripherals can be realized, and the neural feedback mechanism can realize brain-computer interaction.
Figure 1 The main application scenarios of "AI+Medical"
2. Ai medical imaging has been rapidly commercialized
From the perspective of capital heat and market scale, AI medical imaging is the forefront of AI medical commercialization. AI medical imaging enterprises provide AI-assisted screening, diagnosis and clinical decision-making products and services. AI products can be connected with various modal imaging device systems, and after massive data training, it can realize lesion identification, disease diagnosis, treatment planning, and provide assistance for doctors. At present, the AI medical imaging products on the market cover many parts of the heart, lungs, brain, liver, bones and other multi-part diseases, have been applied to hospitals at all levels, is penetrating into the physical examination center and other out-of-hospital scenes, the track gathered focus on medical and health of vertical AI companies, AI technology companies, Internet giants and other multi-field players.
According to the data of arterial network, from 2020 to January 2022, 25 AI medical imaging products passed the APPROVAL OFNPA Class III medical device certificate and obtained market access qualifications. AI medical imaging enterprises continue to improve data quality, improve algorithm accuracy, expand product pipelines, expand application scenarios, improve the penetration rate of products at all levels of hospitals in China, and enter the international market, and the recognition of the capital market continues to increase. In 2021, among the 10 IPOs and proposed IPOs in the field of medical AI, there will be as many as 6 AI medical imaging companies.
Figure 2 IPO events in the medical AI field in 2021
3. Development trend of medical AI industry
Identifying pain points, expanding scenarios, and maximizing the value of AI to people are the keys to the sustainable development of medical AI enterprises. In the field of medical imaging with cumbersome diagnostic processes and heavy workload, AI can significantly improve the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment, and its effectiveness has been verified in the detection of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. It can be seen that for medical AI companies, it is the key to cut into the pain points of the industry and constantly polish the algorithm model to meet the needs of different scenarios.
The data quality has gradually improved, and the data application has been further standardized. The quantity and quality of data is the decisive factor of the accuracy of the algorithm model, data compliance is the necessary threshold, under the joint action of supervision and market, the accumulation of massive high-quality compliance data will become the focus of the medical AI industry.
Overall, medical AI companies have invested heavily in the early stage, most of them have not yet achieved profitability, and the sustainability of business models still needs to be verified. At the same time, there are a large number of scenes to be tapped in the medical AI industry, and with the improvement of regulations and the improvement of product quality, the pulling effect of artificial intelligence on the digitalization and automation transformation of the medical industry will continue to increase.