Smart medicine makes endoscopies more efficient, accurate and convenient
Editor's note:
Smart medicine is the future of medical advancement. Information technology, artificial intelligence and big data are playing increasingly significant roles in health care, which is becoming more convenient and human-centered. This series on many sectors of the health industry is intended to demonstrate the role of advanced technology, intelligent systems and new inventions.
Shot by Dong Jun. Edited by Dong Jun. Subtitles by Cai Wenjun.

Dr Wan Rong (center) from Shanghai General Hospital performs an endoscopy with the assistance of an AI system.
Smart medicine is being used for endoscopies at local hospitals to detect lesions and alert doctors to perform further tests.
While doctors are performing an endoscopy, the artificial intelligence-based system marks suspicious lesions in red to remind medics to instigate further tests. This greatly enhances medical efficiency and reduces the possibility of missing some problems.
"Technology changes life," said Dr Wan Rong from the digestive disease department of Shanghai General Hospital, one of the venues using a city-level model for AI applications to make medical processes more convenient, more patient-centered and more efficient.
"Not only in the way we live, but also in the way we are diagnosed and treated. The AI system plays an important role during the endoscopy process and does quick and primary screening ahead of doctors, who just need to do further and detailed checks on these suspicious parts. It is called an endo-angle."
Wan said AI assistance is also very useful for grassroots and rural doctors and young doctors to support their clinical practices and improve their capabilities in a short period of time.

Dr. Wan Rong (right) discusses results with a colleague while performing an endoscopy.
Cancer of the digestive system has gained much attention in the nation in recent years. Because its incidence and mortality have risen annually, due to changes in diet and unhealthy lifestyles, cases of gastric and colorectal cancer are rising rapidly in metropolitan cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, especially cities with a large number of elderly residents.
The Shanghai Health Commission said colorectal cancer has become the second-most prevalent cancer for local residents, following lung cancer. Digestive system cancer causes half of the cancer-related deaths in the nation, experts said.
Early screening through fecal occult blood tests, stool DNA tests and endoscopies can greatly reduce the onset and development of gastric and colorectal cancers.
"A smart endoscope is used not only for screening but also treatment, as we have developed a technology to offer non-invasive treatment for people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which is a risk factor for esophagus cancer," Wan added.
The introduction and application of 5G in hospitals also streamlined the wide use of disposable endoscopies.
"The ordinary endoscopy center needs a large-scale washing and disinfection place for medical appliances. It is expensive and difficult to be achieved in special places like rural and outskirt areas and battle fields. So medics in these places can use disposable endoscopies to carry out checks while sending the data and information through 5G to senior hospitals for experts to do real-time diagnosis and direction," Wan said.
"It can benefit rural patients, who can receive screening at their hometowns instead of going all the way to big cities."
