New Application Areas in Healthcare to Revolutionize the Healthcare Industry beyond the Limits of Human Ability

Biomedical Optical Imaging transformed the imaging technology to less invasive modalities as compared to X-rays that are more invasive in nature. Non-invasiveness has allowed the clinicians for frequent tests for diagnosis and treatment without much harm to the tissue microstructures. It has also enabled quantitative mapping of disease-specific endogenous and exogenous substances. Ophthalmology is a well utilized arena of the optical imaging, however, other applications like its use in angioplasty, enhanced endoscopy for detection of precancerous lesions, effective and safe minimally invasive surgeries, diagnosis of serious infections in diabetics, point of care diagnostics among others. As the diagnosis of a wide range of diseases, including various types of cancers and many endemics relies on optical techniques, numerous compact and cost-effective optical imaging platforms have been developed in recent years for use at the point of care. New key aspects have been coming up that will contribute considerably to the improvement of the knowledge of disease processes and the more efficient evaluation of drug effects in living laboratory animals along with new diagnostic and therapeutic applications in human clinical practices. Newer imaging modalities have widely exploited for drug delivery, drug discovery and imaging diagnostics and will continue to assist.

Lack of skilled professionals and high cost and data requirements for the launch of new optical technologies

It is very important for the physicians and healthcare providers to keep themselves updated to the medical knowledge and technical skills for these increasingly complex devices. There has been tremendous development for minimally invasive surgeries, ophthalmic and endovascular procedures in the recent years. Appropriate training is a very important criteria and the lack of trained personnel in the developing countries act as a barrier for the diffusion of this technology growth in these markets.

These systems require huge cost to install and therefore major availability can be seen among well-known and financially stable hospitals. The newer systems such as photo acoustic tomography and hyper spectral imaging, which are quite advanced as compared to optical coherence tomography, poses higher risk and thus act as barrier in the market growth. Since, the optical imaging devices offer a noninvasive alternative that can potentially provide functional information of the tissues, although, high cost of installation and maintenance acts as barrier to the full adoption of these devices as it directly impacts the adoption rate by the healthcare providers.