A Image Sourced From Philips Website for Representation Purposes Only.
Ever since Wilhelm Roentgen made the monumental and transformational Discovery of X-rays in 1895, 8th November has major significance in Radiology. The way Healthcare is being practiced and how Clinicians study Human Body has been transformed forever. Over the last century there have been several practices which have evolved within Radiology Practice which have enabled diagnostics as well as intervention procedures improve leaps and bounds in terms of Accuracy, Efficiency and Reliability. X-rays, CTs, PETCT, US, IVUS, MRI all modalities have individually progressed as super specialties and now in 2020’s decade are at highly mature level. The emergence of Software in late 1990’s and rapid strides made in computing in last 02 decades have meant the various Radiology modalities have emerged to be more reliable and become the go-to Dx platforms for various diseases and clinical conditions.
Surgery, Orthopedics, Endo-Urology, Neuro, Oncology & cancer Dx/Tx, Nuclear Medicine, Hybrid techs
From X-ray machines, C-Arms, Interventional Cath labs, CTs, MRIs, US to Portable Scanners, Localized scanners for extremities , Hand-held Ultrasounds and so on, the Radiology Systems have evolved is Form, Fit, Size, Functions, User Interfaces and other Design elements. Major players like GEHC, Siemens, Philips, Samsung, Toshiba, Carestream etc. have being working on new age tech and evolving their product lines regularly to match up with tech advancement. Tele-radiology – has seen steady and widespread adoption in USA, EU and now in India. The remote analysis and fast tracking of Diagnostics especially the basic research and analysis needed for standard diagnostic procedures has reduced the TAT and helped address higher workloads of Radiologists. The 1990’s were largely driven by Semiconductor and Embedded Electronics Tech & Market evolution. Followed by late 2000’s, software development lead the changes and growth. As we enter 2020’s, a major launchpad is being laid for propelling the Radiology Modalities into the next Orbit of Tech revolution. The Technology advancements that are fueling the transformation are
- Data Analytics, Big data and Access to Patient EMRs, EHRs.:
While Patient data has been largely secretive and confidential, the ability of Large PACS, HIS and EMR systems to now consolidate Patient data with Devices has provided Radiology systems with access to large Data sets and historical data. Coupled with growth of
- Tele-radiology
- Patient Behavior transformation in terms of Data Sharing
there is now large pool of data sets available. This augurs well for Data Driven analysis 2. Clinical Decision Systems based on RWE (Real World Evidence) using AI-ML & Data Analytics. 3. AI_ML: Automation in Process and Workflows: High Computational powers, Quantum Computing, CNN and MLOps are driving innovators, start-ups and OEMs to build innovations which are transforming
- Procedure TAT
- Analysis TAT
- Accuracy
- Reliability and Repeatability
Several start-ups are making major strides in deploying AI-ML in Radiology like Viz.ai, Qure.Ai, Lunit, Arterys, Aidoc, Zebra Medical Vision, Radiobotics etc..
4. AR/ VR/ XR for Procedure Preparation, Learning and Clinical Studies: With growth in AR VR, the physicians will get an opportunity to run dummy practice sessions, Training Clinicians/ Radiologists, Prepare before a surgery (Surgery Planning) and help reduce TAT, reduce human errors, build Personalized solutions etc.. Remote Surgeries would also be regular realities soon with a combination of XR and %G/6G Network speeds.
5. Image Processing: ML, Computer Vision and PACS evolution
6. Robotics: manual movements, detector & image processor positioning, subject positioning has major scope of improvement with current Large bulky systems designs. Automation will improve agility, manoeuvrability and installation and operations & over all ease of use will improve. Robotic Surgery is seeing major advancements an with 5G, 6G tele-networks remote controlled surgeries aided by Radiology systems could be a regular practice in next decade.
7. Image Capturing & Recording and Digital Radiology: As times have evolved from the age old Tubes and have given ways to Detector, Flat panel Detectors, CMOS sensors and much. With rapid evolution in camera systems, lenses, resolutions and overall image gathering techniques and technologies, the means and methods of Image gathering are changing and getting smaller in form factor, which will drive systems towards being Miniaturized Point of Care Portable
8. Cloud Computing, Networks (5/6Gs) & Mobile Apps: Cloud based systems and easy DB structures driven HIS, EHRs/EMRs are enabling Patients and Clinicians to interact in a whole new way and record and store data. Telemedicine and Patients getting access to Care and easy forms of records management will only fuel further availability of Big Data for better analysis. From when I began working on Radiology systems, to almost 2 decades forward now, Radiology as a field has grown to be diverse super specialty modalities and technologies.
Given the power and potential that Radiology Practice has and market size potent it holds, along with large unmet needs of huge populations in Low and Medium income Countries, the infusion of various Digital and Other Tech innovations and platforms ranging from Cloud, AIML, ARVR/XR, Imaging, Sensors, Robotics and others are bound to propel Radiology into a new age of transformation.
With many Big-tech Cos like Google, Apple and Amazon jumping into the Field of Healthcare (Google cloud recently made their new Healthcare stacks available) and traditional players like Siemens, GEHC, Philips, J&J, Medtronic, Samsung and many others driving new product innovations, the race for innovating new services and solutions is just getting hotter. The breakthrough Start-ups are only spicing it up.
A major question now being debated is – “Will AI-ML & Bid Data Replace the Radiologist?”. Well the day is still far away and as tech evolves Human Practitioners will also evolve. Amongst all these developments, Radiology is staring at new horizons and the Users /Patients are ones who are the ones who will reap the max. benefits.