In this autumn season, the Chinese Medical Association, the Chinese Medical Association Nuclear Medicine Branch hosted by the Henan Provincial Medical Association, the Henan Provincial Medical Association Nuclear Medicine Branch, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University hosted by the Chinese Medical Association, the Chinese Medical Association Nuclear Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association 2024 Annual Academic Conference on 12-15 September 2024 in the five dynasties of the ancient capital of Zhengzhou was held in a grand manner.

       The opening ceremony kicked off with a report on the past year's work of the Nuclear Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association as a warm-up film. With the camera slowly advancing, one struggle scene after another was vivid in our minds, recording the sweat and persistence of Chinese nuclear medicine people for more than a year, and full of incentives for future work. The collective appearance of the young members of the ‘Ode to the Yellow River’ and ‘Song of Nuclear Medicine’ inspired everyone's deep affection for nuclear medicine with their bold, spirited, high-spirited and energetic performances.

       The opening ceremony was co-chaired by Prof Lan Xiaoli, Secretary General of Nuclear Medicine Branch of Chinese Medical Association, Wuhan Union Medical College Hospital, and Prof Han Xingmin, Member of Nuclear Medicine Branch of Chinese Medical Association, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Mr Wang Jing, Chairman of Nuclear Medicine Branch of CMA, Mr Wang Chengzeng, Secretary of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Mr Huang Gang, President of Nuclear Medicine Physicians Branch of China Medical Association, Mr Li Hongle, Deputy Director of Henan Provincial Health Association, and Mr Feng Guosheng, Vice President of CMA delivered warm speeches respectively. Wang Wei, Vice President and Secretary General of Henan Provincial Medical Association, Li Yaming, Chairman of Nuclear Medicine Branch of China Nuclear Society, Li Fang, Chairman of Nuclear Medicine Equipment and Technology Committee of China Medical Equipment Association, and other guests, as well as nuclear medicine seniors, nuclear medicine branch of all the members of the nuclear medicine colleagues across the country, a total of more than 2,000 people to share in the annual Chinese nuclear medicine event, the number of participants hit a new record high.

Huang Gang, President, Chinese Physicians Association, Nuclear Medicine Physicians Branch

Li Hongle, Deputy Director, Henan Provincial Health Commission

Feng Guosheng, Vice President, Chinese Medical Association

       With the theme of ‘Diagnosis and Treatment as One, Cross Integration’, many academicians and scholars made keynote reports on ‘Reverse Thinking and Physician Growth’, ‘Medical Isotope Production and Autonomous Process of Radioactive Drugs’, ‘Development of Heavy Ion Therapy’, ‘Innovation and Enhancement of Value-Based Medicine’, etc. Many academicians and scholars made keynote reports on ‘Reverse Thinking and Physician Growth’, ‘Medical Isotope Production and Autonomous Process of Radioactive Drugs’, ‘Development of Heavy Ion Therapy’, and ‘Innovation and Enhancement of Value-Based Healthcare’. ‘2024 China Nuclear Medicine Status Report’.

       Academician Fan Daiming: Reverse Thinking and Physician Growth

       Academician Fan Daiming takes reverse thinking as the core, discusses its important role in integrative medicine, and closely integrates it with precision medicine and evidence-based medicine. Reverse thinking, as a key component of integrative medicine, requires doctors to look at problems from different perspectives and break through the limitations of traditional diagnostic thinking when confronted with complex conditions. Academician Fan demonstrated how to use reverse thinking to solve difficult problems through vivid clinical cases. He put forward the concept of ‘watching and waiting’, which further expresses the important strategy of facing uncertainty in medical practice. The concept of ‘watching and waiting’ further expresses the importance of strategies in the face of uncertainty in medical practice, which is complementary to reverse thinking and enhances the value of integrative medicine in clinical practice.

       Academician Fan pointed out that integrative medicine is not a fixed and unchanging framework, but a system full of infinite variables. Every judgement in medicine has its uncertainty, so doctors must keep an open mind and be flexible in dealing with various possibilities in the process of diagnosis and treatment. As he puts it, ‘a cancer cell is not necessarily a cancer’, revealing that doctors have to break the traditional diagnostic framework and treat based on personalised judgement. This way of thinking is not only a tool for accurate diagnosis, but also a driving force for doctors' growth. Academician Fan also demonstrated, through a review of his own career, how a broad knowledge base and sense of responsibility, combined with reverse thinking, can drive medicine forward.

Academician Fan Daiming gave a keynote speech on ‘Reverse Thinking and Physician Growth’.

       Academician Zhao Xiangeng: Medical Isotopes and Autonomous Process of Radiopharmaceuticals

       Academician Zhao Xiangeng introduced in detail the current situation and future development prospects of the country in terms of the autonomy of medical isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, covering a brief background, achievements at the current stage, analysis of the industry's pain points and countermeasures and suggestions, which provided constructive advice for promoting the development of China's nuclear medical and healthcare industry.

       Academician Zhao reviewed China's development in the process of medical isotope and radiopharmaceutical autonomy, and affirmed the important achievements made by the industry. At the same time, he analysed the challenges faced by the industry, pointing out that both challenges and opportunities exist in the process of medical isotope preparation and radiopharmaceutical research and development. In terms of industry promotion and industry chain construction, Academician Zhao mentioned that several ‘Academician's Proposals’ have been approved, several national platforms have been approved and constructed nationwide, several industrial cluster projects have been launched, and various supportive policies have been continuously introduced, so the nuclear medical and health industry is steadily moving forward. Finally, Academician Zhao put forward suggestions for the future development of the nuclear medical industry, emphasising the development goals of accelerating the establishment of a long-term stable and independent supply guarantee system for medical isotopes, accelerating the research, development and application of radiopharmaceuticals, and initiating the establishment of a demonstration zone for the development of strategic emerging industries in nuclear medical and healthcare, so as to provide sustained impetus for the development of China's nuclear medical industry.

Academician Zhao Xiangeng gave a keynote speech on ‘Medical Isotopes and Autonomous Process of Radiopharmaceuticals’.

       Academician Xia Jiawen: Development of heavy ion therapy

       Academician Xia Jiawen gave an in-depth introduction to the unique advantages of heavy ion therapy technology and its application progress in China. As a cutting-edge technology in the field of radiotherapy, heavy ion therapy shows five major advantages: strong penetration, concentrated dose release, high relative biological effect, small scattering effect and low radiation and easy protection. Academician Xia pointed out that it is the above advantages that make heavy ion able to achieve precise strikes on deep-seated tumours, while protecting healthy tissues to the maximum extent to improve the therapeutic effect of patients. Compared with traditional radiotherapy technology, heavy ion therapy is not only non-invasive, painless and senseless, but also can greatly improve the depth control and precision, greatly improving patients' long-term survival and quality of life.

       Academician Xia shared China's latest clinical application progress in the field of heavy ion therapy technology. With the continuous progress of technology, China is actively promoting the research, development and application of the new generation of universal and extreme miniaturised heavy ion therapy devices. The above progress not only provides more efficient treatment options for Chinese tumour patients, but also signifies that heavy ion therapy has a broad development prospect in China.

Academician Xia Jiawen gave a keynote speech on ‘Development of Heavy Ion Therapy’.

       Prof Xiong Lize: Innovation for value-based healthcare

       Professor Xiong Lize gave a presentation on the theme of ‘Innovation Enhances Value-Based Healthcare’ from three aspects, namely, new technologies and new therapies, innovative healthcare management, and fostering innovative thinking. Professor Xiong explained the importance of innovative drug technology from a large number of clinical practice cases such as postoperative chronic pain prevention and treatment, acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery, ischemic stroke, neuroprotective agents, etc. By introducing new technologies and methods, the diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic efficacy of diseases can be improved, complications can be reduced, and the quality of life of patients can be improved. Innovation is not only limited to the technical level, but also includes the innovation of management mode and service process. Professor Xiong shared the case of the Apgar score, which reduced neonatal mortality, and the case of changing anaesthesiologists during surgery, which led to increased mortality and complications, to show that innovative management methods in clinical practice can reduce the costs for both hospitals and patients, and thus enhance value-based care. Finally, Professor Xiong demonstrated the importance of new thinking with the case of amputation treatment improvement, pointing out that innovative thinking can not only lead the development of the discipline and promote the efficient transformation of research results, but also significantly improve the overall level of healthcare services and better meet the needs of patients.

Prof Xiong Lize gave a keynote speech on ‘Innovation for Value-Based Care’.

       Prof Jing Wang: 2024 China Nuclear Medicine Status Report

       In his report, Professor Wang Jing firstly showed the highlights of the development of nuclear medicine in China, such as the first time to establish an in-depth cooperation mechanism with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the first time to publish a special issue of China in JNM, the top journal of nuclear medicine, etc., and also showed the major breakthroughs and outstanding achievements of nuclear medicine in China in recent years in the areas of national (provincial and ministerial) outstanding talents, national key projects, national (provincial and ministerial) awards and so on.

       On behalf of the Nuclear Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, Prof. Wang Jing released the 2024 China Nuclear Medicine Census data at the meeting, and analysed and reflected on the results of the census, such as the overview of the discipline, the number of large-scale equipments and their use (distribution), the use of radiopharmaceuticals, the current status of nuclide therapy in the whole country, the situation of in vitro analysis and detection, the situation of practitioners, the situation of teaching and scientific research, as well as the suggestions for the construction and development of nuclear medicine. Although China's nuclear medicine has made remarkable achievements, it still faces many challenges. Firstly, the problem of imbalance in regional development is still prominent; secondly, there is an urgent need to cultivate more nuclear medicine professionals, especially high-end and complex talents; in addition, the popularisation and publicity of nuclear medicine still need to be strengthened. Finally, Prof Wang Jing emphasised that the development of nuclear medicine should be based on itself, focusing on the imbalance of development, the less developed regions ‘survive, seek development, make the small bigger’, the developed regions ‘promote enhancement, expand the influence, make the big stronger’, and positively respond to the national strategy of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment, and work together to meet the challenges of major diseases, and build an accurate, accurate and comprehensive nuclear medicine centre. We will actively respond to the national strategy of graded diagnosis and treatment, work together to meet the challenges of major diseases, and create a highland of accurate diagnosis and treatment for the benefit of the majority of patients.

Prof Wang Jing gave a keynote speech on ‘2024 China Nuclear Medicine Status Report’.

       There will be 20 sessions, covering topics such as Continuing Education, International Academic Exchange, Academic Exchange of Young Scholars, PET/CT (PET/MR), Nuclear Oncology, Nuclear Neurology, Nuclear Cardiology, Functional Nuclear Medicine (SPECT/CT), Nuclide Therapy, Radiopharmaceuticals Research and Development and Transformation, Experimental Nuclear Medicine, In Vitro Analysis, Nuclear Medicine Technology, Nuclear Medicine Care, Big Data and AI, Science and Information Media, Quality Control, Guidelines and Consensus, Nuclear Medicine Discipline Construction, and Non-Public Healthcare Academic Exchange. Nuclear Medicine Technology, Nuclear Medicine Nursing, Big Data and AI, Popularisation of Science and Information Media, Quality Control, Guidelines and Consensus, Nuclear Medicine Discipline Construction, Non-Public Healthcare Academic Exchanges, and so on. For the first time, the conference has set up a special session for international academic exchanges, inviting top experts from the United States, Europe, Australia and other countries to have face-to-face academic exchanges with domestic nuclear medicine elites, to comprehensively display the latest achievements of Chinese nuclear medicine, and to further promote the deepening and practical international cooperation. The academic themes of ‘face-to-face teaching by masters and shoulder-to-shoulder design of topics’ in the youth section of this conference are unique, fully demonstrating the fruitful achievements of young talents in nuclear medicine in scientific research and clinical work. A number of national Jieqing, excellent youth and other outstanding talents and young scholars at the meeting to talk about the opportunities and challenges of nuclear medicine, China's nuclear medicine successor, the prospect is promising. Each session also invited experts from related disciplines to fully discuss the theme of ‘diagnosis and treatment as a whole, cross-fertilisation’ to deepen interdisciplinary cooperation. In addition, the conference also set up special reports, oral exchanges, poster exchanges, film reading competitions, case discussions, popular science competitions, etc., so that participants can enjoy the academic feast and discuss the development of nuclear medicine.

       In the end, Shi Hongcheng, the president-designate of the Chinese Medical Association Nuclear Medicine Branch, made a wonderful Highlight of the conference, pointing out that the conference was held under the favourable situation of in-depth study of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Party Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and that the conference was unprecedented, with wonderful keynote reports, stimulating release of information on the census, and popularity of each session full of passion. Professor Shi Hongcheng made a wonderful comment on the report contents of each session. The meeting counted the number of submissions and registrations of nuclear medicine chapters and units in all provinces (cities) of China, and awarded certificates to the top ten provinces and units.

Mr Shi Hongcheng, Chairman-designate of the Chinese Medical Association Nuclear Medicine Branch, made a Highlight Report.

       Thanks to this great era, we nuclear medicine people are in the high light of the development of nuclear medicine, opportunities and challenges co-exist, ‘know the shortcomings and forge ahead, look at the distant mountains and go forward’. The Nuclear Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association will make deep ploughing, make steady progress, lead the nuclear medicine people in the country to make concerted efforts, move forward with courage and determination, live up to the times and the trust, make the cause of nuclear medicine bigger and stronger, and contribute to the strength of nuclear medicine people for a healthy China.

Group photo of participants of the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Chinese Medical Association Nuclear Medicine Branch