A powerful assistant: AI reshapes medical services in China

In Shenzhen, 57-year-old Li Hualiang, who suffers from hypertension and heart disease, sought dental implants but was concerned about his cardiac health. He turned to Luohu People's Hospital, a facility equipped with an artificial intelligence (AI) guidance system designed to streamline complex medical cases.

After describing his symptoms, the system suggested registration advice, helping Li smoothly book a cardiology appointment. When he arrived at the consultation room, the cardiology doctor's computer already displayed Li's condition details.

Following a brief inquiry, the AI system took just eight seconds to offer diagnostic suggestions. To address Li's interest in dental implants, the doctor further utilized the AI tool to assess procedure-related risks and precautions.

As a pioneer in AI-driven healthcare innovation, Shenzhen has integrated 16 categories with 63 scenarios so far and rolled out nearly 450 AI products across all levels of medical institutions.

Pei Xiaoyang, director of cardiovascular medicine of Luohu People's Hospital, emphasized the role of AI in managing patients with multiple conditions.

"Patients sometimes present with comorbidities, and specialists may lack expertise in overlapping disciplines," he explained. "AI bridges these gaps by offering insights into medications and treatments beyond our core specialties, which is helpful for delivering precise care."

Revolutionizing diagnosis and critical care with AI

In major-disease diagnosis, pathologists traditionally spent significant time and effort screening lesion cells from normal ones under microscopes – a process fraught with risks of fatigue-induced misdiagnosis.

To address this, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine developed and implemented an AI-powered pathological model. Today, digital slide scanners transform glass slides into digital images, which are then uploaded to the cloud for AI-assisted analysis. 

The model accurately filters out normal samples while flagging suspected lesion areas, dramatically improving diagnostic efficiency and accuracy. This innovation also reduces the workload for young pathologists, allowing them to focus on honing their expertise and advancing their professional growth.

In intensive care units (ICUs), where medical devices generate vast amounts of data, doctors previously had to manually compile and interpret fragmented patient information to make critical decisions. Now, the hospital's AI-driven ICU model categorizes patient conditions into structured modules and creates digital simulations using real-time data from interconnected devices.

For example, in the case of a heart-transplant patient on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), an ICU doctor demonstrated how the AI system mimics clinical reasoning – analyzing trends in vital signs, lab results and device metrics – to assist in determining the optimal time for ECMO removal.

"AI acts as a powerful assistant to ICU teams," explained Cai Hongbo, director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. "It continuously monitors patients for subtle changes and emerging risks, then analyzes and organizes data according to the clinical protocols we've programmed. This capability is transformative."

Having been deployed for six months at the hospital, the AI-driven ICU model has established a high-quality ICU database, achieved professional-grade assistance capabilities, reduced clinicians' workloads, and streamlined time-consuming tasks like information retrieval and decision-making.

AI excels in medical imaging, genomics, smart triage, chronic-disease management, and drug research and development. It enhances patient experience, supports medical staff and promotes efficient resource use, making high-quality care accessible to more people.

Nevertheless, challenges remain. Balancing technological innovation with robust privacy safeguards, ensuring algorithmic fairness, and maintaining transparency in decision-making processes are critical hurdles that require ongoing attention.

Regulatory bodies, including China's National Health Commission, are actively formulating policies to foster responsible AI development in healthcare. These efforts aim to harmonize innovation with standardization, paving the way for a future where both patients and medical professionals benefit from safer, more efficient care.

(Cover: Pediatric experts and China's first AI pediatrician collaborate during a multidisciplinary consultation on complex cases at Beijing Children's Hospital, February 20, 2025. /VCG)