Recently, Chengdu BOE Hospital successfully completed the world's first corrective surgery for a severe reverse folding spinal deformity, bringing a new lease on life to a patient who was once predicted "not to live past 13." This surgery not only broke the global record in treating such conditions, demonstrating China's medical technology strength and spirit of humanistic care in the field of extremely complex cases, but also reflects the significant value of BOE's "Medical-Engineering Integration"-centric healthcare strategy in promoting medical innovation and enhancing the capability to diagnose and treat difficult and critical illnesses. It provides a reference-worthy Chinese solution for the treatment of similar cases worldwide and stands as a vivid example of BOE's corporate commitment to giving back to society.
The patient admitted to Chengdu BOE Hospital, Jiang Yanchen, suffered from an extremely rare congenital myopathy, with his spine reverse-folded to 180 degrees, leaving only a palm-width gap between his head and spine. His chest and abdominal cavities were severely compressed, his lung function was only 20% of a normal person's, and he also suffered from severe osteoporosis and type II respiratory failure, making the surgery extremely difficult and risky. Dr. Liang Yijian, a leading authority in the treatment of severe spinal deformities in China, a recipient of the "Touching China 2016 Person of the Year" award, and Director of the Spinal Surgery Department at Chengdu BOE Hospital, led his team through four highly difficult surgeries, successfully correcting approximately 170 degrees of the curvature. This achieved a medical miracle, enabling the patient to go from "unable to lie flat" to "walking independently." During the surgeries, the Chengdu BOE Hospital medical team innovatively adopted a "reverse osteotomy" approach. Through multidisciplinary collaboration, they overcame multiple risks including those related to anesthesia, bleeding, and nerve damage, breaking the surgical taboo for correcting reverse-folded patients and reshaping both the patient's spine and life. Since its establishment, Chengdu BOE Hospital has continuously tackled challenges in fields such as folding spine disease and congenital heart disease, accumulating rich clinical experience and advanced medical technology capabilities. The success of this world-first reverse folding spinal deformity surgery fully demonstrates BOE's systemic capabilities and leading level in the comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of complex cases.
Behind this achievement lies the solid support of an innovative ecosystem built by BOE over many years through its Smart Healthcare & Medical Engineering business, which integrates clinical diagnosis and treatment with technological research and development. BOE uses its digital hospitals as clinical bases, integrating core technologies such as display, sensing, and artificial intelligence to promote the deep connection between medical devices and clinical needs. On the "medical" front, BOE has established five digital hospitals in Beijing, Hefei, Chengdu, and Suzhou, with a total of over 5,600 beds, focusing on advantageous disciplines such as orthopedics, cardiovascular diseases, and oncology. It has served over 4 million customers cumulatively, with outpatient and discharge volumes steadily growing. On the "engineering" front, leveraging its accumulation in semiconductor display and intelligent manufacturing, BOE has developed several industry-first medical-engineering integrated products covering areas such as connected health screens, molecular diagnostics, and regenerative medicine. It has obtained nearly a thousand authorized patents, received accreditation for two Beijing Municipal Key Laboratories, and participated in the formulation of 8 international standards, 5 industry standards, and 3 group standards. Furthermore, BOE has deeply integrated clinical and management needs in scenarios like myopia prevention and control, smart hospitals, and smart health and wellness, launching products such as the DistanceView Screen, Reading & Writing Desk, and AI-assisted medical robots, significantly enhancing the accessibility and quality of medical services.
While promoting technological innovation, BOE actively fulfills its social responsibility by innovating a "Healthcare + Public Welfare" model. Throughout 2024, BOE conducted 1,781 free clinic sessions and made medical donations in impoverished areas, enabling more residents to access face-to-face, targeted medical consultations, benefiting over 274,000 people. Among these efforts, Chengdu BOE Hospital continuously carried out activities like the "BOE Cares, Healthy Public Welfare Tour," reaching deep into the ethnic regions of Sichuan (Aba, Liangshan, Ganzi) to provide screening and surgical treatment for local populations suffering from spinal diseases, congenital heart disease, cataracts, and more. To date, it has cumulatively helped hundreds of thousands of individuals, including 58 children with cleft lip and palate, 135 elderly people with cataracts, 280 children with congenital heart disease, and 995 patients with spinal conditions. This series of public welfare initiatives not only constitutes concrete practice driven by BOE's mission to "help more people regain their health" but also sets an industry benchmark for promoting the widespread accessibility of high-quality medical resources.
Guided by the "Internet of Things (IoT) and Digital Twin" strategy, BOE will continue to deepen its "Medical-Engineering Integration" path, accelerate the transformation of innovative achievements and ecosystem co-construction around cutting-edge directions such as smart health and wellness, connected health screens, and regenerative medicine. Upholding the principles of "deep collaboration, collaborative innovation, and value co-creation," BOE will join hands with more industry partners to jointly promote the realization of the vision "Unbounded Healthcare, Infinite Well-being" and contribute more of BOE's wisdom and solutions to the cause of human health.