Anymedi Solution Pioneering Customized Surgical Solutions

Recently, the word “precision medicine” is grabbing attention. Precision medicine implies personalized treatment for a patient and contains cell therapy and targeted therapy but not just limited to medications. Medical equipment using the Internet of things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3D printing, etc., are also considered precision medicine. Such equipment suggests the best treatment course for a patient by predicting surgical prognosis and process. Hence, we met with Kim Gook-bae, the CEO of Anymedi Solution, a company that develops a patient-customized surgical solution.

Anymedi Solution is a corporation developing medical devices, including various surgical solutions. It was created in 2016 after Seoul Asan Hospital studied and researched customized medical equipment. Lately, as precision medicine is a hot potato and that development for personalized equipment is active, Anymedi Solution is developing customized surgical solutions by combining a variety of advanced technologies, including 3D printing, deep learning, VR/AR, robotics, etc. Its two big business fields are diseases and aesthetics.

- What is the reason for choosing customized surgical solutions?

The market for the customized surgical solutions has just made the first step. In some movies, a surgical operation is performed under protocols suggested by AI. Anymedi Solution is working on medical equipment that objectifies such surgical protocols and operates so. The six representative products are simulators for congenital heart diseases and ones that acquired FDA certification: guides for a partial mastectomy, skin cancer removal, orbital fracture reconstructive operation, aortic reconstruction, metallic neurosurgical implants.

- What exactly is a customized surgical solution?

The number of patients with a facial bone fracture rises as leisure activities like riding electric scooters are becoming a norm. Facial bone is fractured on a tinge scale, and that surgeons have trouble operating on it. At that, they can perform with implants cut and personalized for the patient by using a customized surgical solution to plan, considering the curves and reconstruction area. Also, in terms of aortic reconstruction, the time spent for the surgery, which is over 10 hours, can be cut in half by visualizing the complex blood vessels with 3D printing.

For a guide for a partial mastectomy, it sends MRI data from the past and present in a map form to the patient who is undergoing a precedent anticancer treatment in an operating room. This allows more accurate tumor removal and minimizes scarring. Anymedi Solution is the world’s first customized-total-solution company that provides a surgical guide, simulator, and implants.

- Pediatric heart diseases are known to be rare and require complicated surgery.

Right. That is why there were difficulties in developing. Most pediatric heart diseases are congenital. Among those, ventricular septal defect (VSD) needs to be operated on several times within a few months after birth and requires a heart transplant once the patient becomes an adult. At that, a simulator for pediatric heart diseases can objectify surgical protocol for surgeons to practice beforehand with 3D printing and VR and can also assist in selecting a better surgical method that brings more positive results. A recent study related to congenital heart diseases revealed that the stimulator led to 30% of changes in surgical decisions.

- How about performance in the field of aesthetic surgery?

There is the famous “Innofit Lab,” a virtual experience space for aesthetic surgery with optical scanning as the basis. Innofit Lab acquired licensing, February 2020, and many hospitals have been satisfied with it. The virtual space notifies patients about surgical plans through virtual aesthetic surgery SW and shows before-and-after the surgery. Its greatest advantage is that its surgical strategy is closest to the patient’s desired target value. Also, it plans a surgery based on the CT images, considering the patient’s anatomy such as bones and cartilages and accurately implementing it for implant designs. The goal is to collaborate with a hundred plastic surgery clinics until the last quarter of this year.

- I heard you are putting a lot of effort into developing new medical technologies.

Every medical device Anymedi is developing, except customized implants, is new medical technology. Hence, objectified statistics of clinical efficacy are the core of success. An incredible amount of professionals and time are requirements for registration on insurance fees. The goal is to stand shoulder to shoulder with prominent global companies in the fields of image diagnosis devices, medical robots, equipment, and small pieces after five years of securing R/D professionals and ensuring the internal stability of the product development center and SW development lab.