As smog gathers again in Chinese cities, more people are concerned about health problem and cancer is one of their worries.

The Internet has developed rapidly and has been integrated with many industries. Information about cancer treatments in China is also more and more Internet- based.

Ryan Zhang, founder of LinkingMed -- a company focused on the platform of cancer data and medical data analysis -- has through his company developed the online resources of Oncology Information System (OIS), Clinical Data Repository (CDR) and Oncology Teletherapy Platform (OTP)over the past ten years.

Ryan Zhang, founder of LinkingMed. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Serving doctors not patients

Many cancer-related companies focus on developing programs by which doctors can diagnose and even offer patients treatments by computers.

"That's difficult to realizeautomatic diagnosis in the current situation, at least in the coming three years," said Zhang. "Even an experienced doctor may make a mistake;how could it be possible to summarize a comprehensive cancer diagnosis system and set up instructions on a computer?"

Nevertheless, Zhang believes that the best way to improve survivalrates for cancer patients is to assist medical staff instead of treating patients directly.

LinkingMed concentrates on assisting doctors such as oncologists, medical physicists, and radiologists analyze oncology data, such as identifying the cancer's position in the medical imaging, so that medical staff need only review a treatment plan by a computer and authorize therapy. Diagnosis and treatment efficiency could be much improved by this system.

Staff of LinkingMed work late at the office.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]