China's first self-developed PET/MR hits market

The nation’s first self-developed Positron emission tomography/Magnetic Resonance, or PET/MR imaging machine, was officially launched in the market on Sunday through cooperation with Zhongshan Hospital and United Imaging, a Shanghai-based medical equipment developer.

After clinical experiments on some 1,500 cases, the machine was approved by China Food and Drug Administration and will meet the large demand in the nation, officials said.

According to medical experts, PET/MR is the top technology of imaging diagnostics and can conduct accurate diagnosis and research on degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and complicated diseases like liver cancer, pancreas cancer and epilepsy. The demand for PET/MR is huge in the nation, but its cost and maintenance fee remain high.

Currently, there are only nine imported PET/MR in the nation.

Domestic development of PET/MR was included into the key project of the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2016.

United Imaging’s team started to cooperate with Zhongshan Hospital in November last year for clinical verification of the machine. The hospital established a special team consisting of leading specialists to cooperate with the company.

After scanning over 1,500 patients with tumor, nerve system and cardiovascular diseases, the domestically developed machine was confirmed satisfactory effects.

“The success of PET/MR reflects the successful cooperation between industry, research and medicine. It also boosts China’s capability on high-end medical equipment,” said Dr Fan Jia, president of Zhongshan Hospital.