Information technology used to check sperm quality
Shot by Jiang Xiaowei. Edited by Sun Chao. Subtitles by Song Xinyi.
The technology used in facial recognition, as well as artificial intelligence, is being applied to the examination and evaluation of sperm quality at a local hospital. The innovative system is much more precise, accurate, comprehensive and faster.
"It is a completely domestically developed technology, which can identify and follow sperm," said Yang Hao, from the center of reproductive medicine of Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital.
"Traditional methods depend on lab operation and observation, which only analyzes sperm with one specific form, while it can move and overturn to show different forms. Our algorithm can verify different movements of sperm to reach a more accurate and objective result by introducing facial recognition into cell recognition.
"Our system can achieve 90 percent of accuracy on live sperm and 97 percent of accuracy on low-concentration, low-motility and highly deformed sperms."
The system conducts automatic evaluation and examination of sperm by using facial recognition and AI technology.
Sperm and all their vital data are shown quickly on the screen.
Another highlight of the new system, which is jointly developed by the hospital and a high-tech company, is that the whole examination process only takes one and a half hours. It means patients can get the report right away and go back to the doctor for further diagnosis and treatment.
"With the traditional method, patients would wait for about one week to get the report," Yang said. "They have to visit the hospital for a second time. It is inconvenient for patients, especially those from other provinces."
A study comparing the new technology with traditional method on some 1,000 samples in three hospitals confirmed its accuracy is the same as traditional method, which depends on lab staff dyeing examining the sperm.
"While dyeing the sperm for observation, these sperm can die," Yang said. "Our system doesn't need this process. For males with extremely low quantity of sperm, sperm being selected with comparatively high quality in the examination won't be wasted and can be used for further procedures like in vitro fertilization."
Yang's lab is the first in the Asia-Pacific region that has been identified for quality control scheme of spermatology of the German Society of Andrology.
Doctors at Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital conduct a robot-assisted surgery.
Officials from Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital said it is working hard to build the facility into a smart hospital.
"Smart medicine consists of smart technology, smart service and smart management," said Wang Yu, president of the hospital. "Intelligent technology has been deeply involved in all aspects of our clinical service. Robot-assisted surgery, plus 5G technology, allows doctors to carry out more precise and delicate surgery as well as long-distance service.
Dr Wang Yu in surgery
"The imaging analysis and AI technology are able to forecast the treatment outcomes of cancer for different treatment plans to support doctors to develop a more comprehensive and complete judgement.
"Smart technology greatly improves the efficiency of medical diagnosis and treatment."
At the radiology department, AI is used to carry out primary screening and evaluation on all imaging pictures. The final result will be verified and confirmed by medics.
"The AI system only needs five to six minutes to check one patient," said Cheng Jiejun, the director. "It is much faster than a doctor."
AI technology is also used by the radiotherapy department to draw the outline of radiation position for cancer patients. The whole process is reduced from two hours to five to 10 minutes.
Dr Cheng Jiejun, director of radiology department, explains how smart medicine system vividly shows a patient's organ and bone system to support doctors to make more accurate decision.
The hospital, which receives about 25,000 pregnant women each year, delivers the largest number of newborn babies in Shanghai.
Each pregnant woman should visit the hospital about 16 to 18 times by average for registration, prenatal checks and delivery. How to give them a better experience and reduce their waiting time during each visit is a challenge.
It is achieved by a smart reservation and evaluation system. The average waiting time of each hospital visit for a pregnant women is reduced from 68 minutes to 16 minutes. The long-distance fetal monitoring system, which allows pregnant women to carry out checks at home and send the imaging to the doctor, help reduce the prenatal check from 18 times to 14 times.
Dr Sun Luming, director of the hospital's fetal medicine department, said she is able to offer remote surgery instruction and conduct long-distance ultrasound checks and even surgery under the help of smart medicine.
"There are more than 1,000 pregnant women coming to me for consultation on fetal medicine and many are from other provinces," Sun said.
"The pandemic brings difficulty for traveling.
"Smart medicine allows doctors in Shanghai to be involved in medical procedures remotely. I can use the system in Shanghai to do ultrasound checks on a pregnant woman thousands of mile away and instruct doctors over there to do the surgical procedure. In the future, I will be able to operate robotic arms in a remote surgery room to carry out an operation directly."
Dr Sun Luming, director of fetal medicine, conducts a long-distance ultrasound check on a pregnant woman through the smart system.
