Identification of hotspot technologies in the field of radiation diagnosis based on bibliometric analysis of global patents

Objective: To reveal technological development and innovative capacity in the field of medical radiation diagnosis device based on bibliometric analysis of international patents. Methods: The study searched and retrieved international patents in the field of medical radiation diagnosis device from THOMSON INNOVATION DATABASE for quantitative analysis of patent distribution by country and by institutions with regard to number of patent, annual development, citation index and technological hotspots. Results: The number of global patent application in the field of medical radiation diagnosis kept decreasing, but the number of patents applied by China and Korea kept on the rise year by year. US, JAPAN, EUROPE and CHINA are main suppliers of medical radiation diagnosis patents. The top 10 institutions applied half of total medical radiation diagnosis patents in the world. The top 3 institutions, SIEMENS, PHILIPS and GE, applied nearly 30% (27.9%) of total medical radiation diagnosis patents in the world. FUJI FILM, TOSHIBA and OLYMPUS were considered to possess development potentials due to their high development index. Conclusion: The number of global radiation diagnosis patents keeps decreasing in the past decade, but CHINA has R&D and manufacturing potentials. Radiation diagnosis using X-rays, NMR diagnosis and radiation diagnosis using nuclear radiation are technical hotspots in the field of medical radiation diagnosis device.