Congratulations to Academician Yazhu Chen of Shanghai Jiaotong University
Won the 2019 Shanghai Science and Technology Meritorious Award!
On May 19, 2020, the Shanghai Science and Technology Awards Conference were held in Shanghai. The conference commended scientific and technological workers who have made outstanding contributions to the development and modernization of Shanghai's scientific and technological undertakings. Academician Yazhu Chen, 84-year-old academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and honorary dean of the School of Biomedical Engineering of Shanghai Jiaotong University, won the Shanghai Science and Technology Meritorious Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the nationalization and industrialization of high-end medical devices.
Academician Yazhu Chen is a pioneer and leader in the research and development of large-scale medical devices in our country. In the 1980s, she had already achieved fame in the field of high-voltage electrical technology. In order to enable domestic kidney stone patients to receive the most advanced minimally invasive treatment at an affordable price, she resolutely devoted herself to the field of biomedical engineering and engaged in extracorporeal lithotripsy research and development of equipment.
At that time, extracorporeal lithotripsy equipment was an emerging technology that intersects multiple disciplines such as electronics, computers, automation, imaging, and medicine. There is no precedent in China. Due to the country’s economic difficulties and limited funding for scientific research, such an interdisciplinary self-selected project cannot even be found by the counterpart funding application department. Despite this, Academician Chen still overcomes all difficulties and inspires to develop an extracorporeal lithotripsy device to protect patients with kidney stones from the pain of surgery.
There are many difficulties in cross between medical and engineering. Academician Chen and the team learned from the beginning and gradually overcome one after another. With insufficient funds, she ran around and finally received a 400,000 natural science fund low-interest loan with the support of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission. At the end of 1985, the kidney stone in vitro pulverizer was successfully developed, and the price was only one-tenth of the imported equipment. As of today, the "kidney stone in vitro pulverizer" led by Academician Yazhu Chen has cured millions of patients in China.
Make persistent efforts to conquer new peaks in the field of non-invasive treatment
Since the 1990s, Academician Yazhu Chen has devoted herself to the physical therapy of tumors, once again challenging the new peak of science and technology. She took the lead in proposing the development of "a new type of phased array electronic focusing multi-modal therapy technology", which opened up new ideas for non-invasive treatment of tumors. Through more than 20 years of hard work and persistence, she has successfully developed a "high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment system" suitable for non-invasive treatment of a variety of tumors.
SUA-I PHIFU System
In order to complete the transformations of the results of phased focused ultrasound technology and enable the top scientific research results to truly serve and benliefit the people, Academician Yazhu Chen of Shanghai Jiaotong University and Zhonghui Medical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. cooperated in the industrial development of scientific research results. At present, the first domestic P-HIFU has been cnically tested in many well-known tertiary hospitals across the country, and is expected to be launched in China in the near future.
For a long time, tumor treatment has mainly relied on surgical operations, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and patients have to endure great pain. P-HIFU is a non-invasive treatment technology that focuses ultrasound into the body through a phased array outside the body to achieve coagulative necrosis at the target area, without side effects on the whole body, and greatly reducing the pain of the patient.
PHIFU clinical trial achieved good results
The first P-HIFU has started clinical trials in Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital since October 2018. During the trial, Academician Chen visited the treatment site many times to guide clinical work. After in-depth communication with the doctor and patiently listening to the patient's feelings, Academician Chen gave valuable opinions on the equipment and treatment process, which significantly improved the clinical treatment effect. As of November 2019, Chinese women and infants have completed the treatment of 50 patients with uterine fibroids. Preliminary follow-up results show that the ablation rate of uterine fibroids can reach more than 90%, and the volume reduction rate of fibroids can reach more than 70%.
