AI in Medical Imaging: Global Market Outlook

Cone-beam technology is a relative newcomer to medical diagnostic imaging; until recently it has predominately been used in the world of dental healthcare. It has been marketed to the medical world on a small scale so far, but could it be the ‘next big thing' in medical imaging?

Until fairly recently, most medical image analysis software was workstation-based and sold with a perpetual (one-time) software licence. However, with the introduction of cloud-based AI solutions, subscription and fee-per-study models are becoming more prevalent and are forecast to account for an increasing share of the market in the coming years - see chart below. Subscription models are typically preferred by vendors as they create sustainable, recurring revenue streams.

To date, most of the academic research and commercial activity in the field of machine learning for medical imaging has been driven by the US. Several of the leading US academic hospitals have established teams to develop and commercialise artificial intelligence solutions for the detection and diagnosis of diseases.