In the 1980s, when magnetic resonance imaging entered the clinic, some people lamented that CT with radiation was "dead". Obviously, this is not the case. As the most profitable device in hospitals, CT is not only alive and well, but also getting better and better, thanks to the huge user demand.
Each new generation of CT technology improves inspection efficiency and image quality, reduces radiation and contrast agent dose, and broadens the field of application. With the continuous expansion of CT application scenarios, general CT can no longer meet the increasingly personalized clinical needs, and a variety of special CT has been derived, which is the manifestation of the maturity of the market.
Interestingly, in today's general CT more and more volumes, the dedicated CT track that has been "forced" out may become wider and wider.
1 Two routes
We firmly believe that as one of the most important medical imaging technologies, CT has grown from a small sapling to a towering giant tree.
We believe that CT is moving in the following directions: higher definition images, which are more important than anything else, lower radiation dose, which reflects the humanistic care under the ALARA principle, more efficient examinations, high-throughput scanning is a real clinical need, more standard images, providing image assurance for multi-center research, more powerful functions, accurate diagnosis helps reduce repeated examinations, more application scenarios, personalized clinical needs will become more and more important.
We found that from these directions, two important development directions were significantly derived: general-purpose CT and specialized CT, and the corresponding business models were born.
Universal CT
According to Sullivan statistics, from the perspective of the global market, the global CT market size in 2021 was nearly 9.2 billion US dollars, and it is expected to exceed 11 billion US dollars in 2025, and from the perspective of the Chinese market, the total sales volume of China's CT market in 2021 was 6,889 units, and it is expected to reach 10,445 units in 2025.
The huge market volume continues to drive the upgrading of CT technology, and in recent years, it has moved from energy integration CT to photon counting CT. There is no doubt that the future of CT must be photon counting CT, because it can bring ultra-low radiation dose, zero electronic noise, micron-level spatial resolution, multi-energy imaging and ultra-high quantitative accuracy, which can not only find small and hidden lesions, but also make it better move from structural imaging to functional imaging.
Due to its wide range of clinical application prospects, we are full of expectations for photon counting CT, due to its technical difficulty and high price, we remain cautious about photon counting CT, and the general CT market will coexist with energy integration CT and photon counting CT for a long time in the future.
Two Basic Lines in the CT Industry (Original)
Dedicated CT
For a long time, mainstream manufacturers have focused on general CT, but they have been cautious about special equipment. There are two reasons for this: 1) they already have enough market share in general-purpose CT and lack the motivation to innovate, and 2) they need to reorganize the supply chain and customize parts for specific clinical scenarios, and they do not want to "take risks" in pursuit of profits and market prospects.
However, today, CT is becoming more and more homogeneous, and there are more and more application scenarios for dedicated CT. For example, positioning CT oriented to radiotherapy and minimally invasive intervention, mobile CT for emergency and ICU application scenarios, intraoperative CT for the purpose of integrated diagnosis and treatment, and vertical CT featuring weight-bearing imaging.
What's more, there is a great demand for specialty CT around the world, such as orthopedics, radiotherapy, interventional medicine, and so on. The emergence of specialized CT will become a new growth point in the CT market and continue to penetrate medical institutions at all levels.
Looking at the global market, there are only a handful of companies that can gain a firm foothold in the general CT market and continue to cultivate specialized CT by relying on core technologies.
2. Seek progress while maintaining stability
Since the launch of the first 76cm large-aperture diagnostic CT in 2016 to the current top-level 512-slice CT with an 82cm ultra-large aperture, Sinovia has achieved very proud results through steady and steady progress.
What many people know is that thanks to its high cost performance, high reliability, and high user experience, Sinovia's reputation is very good, as can be seen from the user reviews we interviewed.
According to the Sullivan report, since 2020, Sinovia's domestic market has been ranked among the top 5 in China, and in 2023, it will enter the top three in China, second only to United Imaging and Neusoft, and at the same time, its animal CT market has always ranked in the top 2 in China, and its export performance has always ranked in the top 3 in China (of which export performance has accounted for more than 50% of the total performance, and the performance in overseas markets can be called excellent), and it has gradually established a good brand influence in the domestic and international markets.
Sinovia 82cm ultra-large aperture top 512-slice CT (from official)
What many people don't know is that Sinovia's technical strength is very strong, and it has set a number of records in the industry: 1) China's first and only CT company that can realize the whole process of two detectors, and the long-term reliability of mass-produced CT detectors has reached the international leading level; 2) China's first puncture robot was launched, creating the first integrated solution for minimally invasive interventional diagnosis and treatment of CT-guided robots in China; 3) China's first intelligent respiratory synchronization system has been developed to solve the clinical pain points caused by breathing exercise and help CT-guided precision diagnosis and treatment; 4) China's first CT company to develop key components such as main bearings and slip rings, committed to the localization of core components, and to achieve the performance and cost optimization of the whole machine.
In addition, Sinovia has also laid out the research and development project of photon counting CT machine and core components in advance, so as to always sit firmly at the CT table when the next generation of CT arrives.
Sinovia's breakthrough in products and technology also reflects the leap of domestic CT. At the same time, it is also thanks to these technical accumulation and deep cultivation of the industry that it can better develop specialized CT.
3 Specialty pilot
Different from other CT companies, Sinovia has been looking at the development trend of CT as "personalized, specialized, refined, specialized, and novel" since its establishment, and has formulated the strategy of "integration of diagnosis and treatment, and specialization pilot", and has firmly implemented it, and has successively launched large-aperture diagnostic CT covering conventional diagnosis, radiotherapy, and minimally invasive intervention, vertical CT covering orthopedics, gastroenterology, and physical examination centers, bipedal weight-bearing bone and joint CT covering orthopedics, and intraoperative CT covering operating rooms.
As a leader in the segment, we believe that the success of Sinovia is due to the fact that it captures the three essences of specialty CT:
Very large aperture imaging
Large aperture is the industry's first impression of specialized CT, because conventional CT is a multi-purpose machine, radiotherapy (conventional radiotherapy, proton therapy, etc.), minimally invasive intervention (puncture, ablation, etc.) and other fields with a broad market need large aperture CT.
From the perspective of clinical application, the larger the CT aperture, the richer its clinical application scenarios. However, the larger the aperture, the greater the load on the rack, and the greater the challenge. It is feasible to use it only for conventional positioning, but it is not easy to achieve diagnostic-grade large-aperture CT with high spatial resolution, and the entire architecture must be redesigned, including custom tubes, high voltages, detectors, slip rings, bearings, and even the core components of the image chain, such as the frame.
Therefore, in order to better meet the clinical needs, we can see that Sinovision CT is all large aperture, whether it is entry-level or high-end products, such as its 82cm aperture and 512-slice CT is also the largest aperture among high-end CTs. Today, Sinovia has launched the world's largest aperture diagnostic CT with an aperture of 100cm.
We were curious as to why it was 100cm, and not other larger values. Sinovia's reply is that the large aperture of 1 meter is the ultimate in maximizing application scenarios and user benefits. From the perspective of R&D, due to the customization of all components, it can indeed be 110cm or even larger, but from the perspective of the hospital, it is necessary to comprehensively consider factors such as floor space, convenient installation, and user experience. For example, it should not exceed the existing computer room environment and installation conditions of the hospital, and should not affect the user's existing CT experience.
Imaging in the standing position
Since the birth of the world's first whole-body standing spiral CT prototype in 2016, vertical CT featuring standing imaging has become a hot topic in the industry in recent years.
From the perspective of imaging principle, vertical CT is almost the optimal solution for standing imaging, and we predict that in the future, whole body CT = upright CT + decubitus CT, and every tertiary hospital will have standing CT in the future.
Therefore, in order to better meet the clinical needs, Sinovia has launched China's first 100cm ultra-large aperture whole-body spiral vertical CT: OmegaCT One, leading the development of specialist CT.
Because standing CT has significant advantages in the field of orthopedic imaging, whether it is joint surgery, foot and ankle surgery, trauma orthopedics, or spine surgery, it has significant value in the field of anatomical imaging represented by the head and gastrointestinal tract, which means that it can be used in neurology, plastic surgery, gastroenterology, physical examination centers, etc., and has significant value in the field of functional imaging represented by COPD and uterine pelvic floor prolapse, which means that it can be used in respiratory, obstetrics and gynecology, anorectal medicine, etc.
In addition, Chinese experts will have the opportunity to take the lead in mining the "industry-university-research-medical" of standing CT imaging, there will be a comparative imaging database involving recumbent and upright positions in all parts of the body, and there will be expert consensus on the clinical application of recumbent and upright positions, and these will appear in Sinovia.
Sinovia 100cm Large Aperture Whole Body Spiral Vertical CT (from the Official)
In addition, in order to better cover the world's third largest patient group in the Department of Orthopedics, which focuses on joint surgery, trauma orthopedics, spine surgery, and foot and ankle surgery, Sinovia has launched China's first double-foot weight-bearing bone and joint CT: SigmaCT 720.
Although there are similar products abroad, most of them are 10 years ago, lack of post-processing functions such as foot and ankle analysis, the emergence of SigmaCT 720 fills the gap in the field in China, and more importantly, as a supplement to vertical CT, bone and joint CT is not only more portable, but also makes up for the ultra-high-resolution imaging problems that cannot be solved by general CT in the fields of hands, knees, feet, etc., which helps experts to achieve clinical and scientific research breakthroughs in the fields of foot and ankle, joints, and promotes the deep change of the pattern of specialized medical equipment industry.
Sinovia Bipedal Weight-bearing Bone Joint CT (from the Official)
Intraoperative diagnosis and treatment are integrated
In addition to large-aperture imaging and standing imaging, another major subdivision of CT is the operating room. From the perspective of diagnosis and treatment streamline, the intraoperative CT system puts an end to the traditional medical model, which can complete the CT examination in real time and quickly during the operation, avoid the risk of secondary transport, and improve the efficiency and accuracy of diagnosis and treatment, which is the standard configuration for the development of the operating room in the future.
At present, intraoperative CT is mostly used in composite operating rooms, mainly general CT and slide CT. In order to solve the problem of few clinical application scenarios of intraoperative CT, Sinovia launched InsitumCT Zero, a large-aperture multi-body CT, and started to develop large-aperture mobile intraoperative CT in order to solve the problem of low efficiency of intraoperative CT, and initially completed the layout of intraoperative diagnosis and treatment integration.
Sinovia Intraoperative Mobile CT and Multibody CT (from the Official)
4. The meaning behind it
In recent years, "lane change overtaking" has been particularly popular, and the model is domestic new energy vehicles. In the field of traditional fuel vehicles, it is difficult for the mainland to catch up with the century-old accumulation of Europe and the United States in a short period of time, but in the new energy research and development track, everyone is on the same starting line, and we can indulge in galloping. Today, China's new energy vehicle and power battery industry has long led the world, and there are Chinese new energy vehicles in almost every corner of the world.
From "overtaking in corners" to "overtaking in lanes", from fighting in the red sea to opening up a new blue ocean, Chinese enterprises have found a new vision, and at the same time achieved a new self.
The same is true for CT, and of course the mainland should vigorously support the development of specialized CT for three reasons:
On the one hand, due to the power of GPS, it is difficult for domestic CT as a "latecomer" to achieve a big breakthrough in the global mid-to-high-end market, but specialized CT will help domestic CT to establish industry influence in the world. For example, at the CMEF site, vertical CT and bone and joint CT have gained a lot of "foreigners" to stop. In addition, due to the differences in constitution and habits between Eastern and Western people, standing CT may become a representative of domestic images of "flowering inside the wall and red outside the wall".
On the other hand, due to clinical application scenarios such as large orthopedics, operating rooms, radiotherapy, minimally invasive intervention, emergency ICU, and physical examination centers, although it is not as good as general CT, the market for specialized CT also has a huge market capacity. In addition, compared with general CT, the added value of specialist CT is higher, and supporting specialist CT is also in line with the internal requirements of the country to develop new quality productivity.
On the other hand, the high-end medical equipment industry chain has always been a pain point in the mainland and must be solved. Through the development of specialized CT, it can drive the localization of core components, make the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain work together to form advantages, and bring a catfish effect to the development of the domestic high-end medical equipment industry represented by CT. (Source: Medical Engineering Research Institute)