Rise of mobile medical imaging to revolutionise healthcareRise of mobile medical imaging to revolutionise healthcare

The demand for mobile medical imaging systems has grown significantly in recent years, driven by their ability to improve patient outcomes and their highly portable nature. The pandemic further pushed the demand for novel mobile medical imaging systems as it prevented the spread of the infection among healthy patients and medical staff by avoiding crowding in medical imaging centres.

Globally, more than four billion medical imaging procedures are performed yearly, with the scan volumes likely to grow further with the increasing complexity of diseases. The use of novel mobile medical imaging systems is expected to grow significantly as clinicians look for portable and easy-to-use devices to improve patient outcomes.

Mobile medical imaging technologies have emerged as a beacon of innovation, enabling on-site or patient bedside diagnostic procedures, which has tremendous benefits as compared to the traditional stationary medical imaging systems that require patients to travel to hospitals or specialised clinics, consuming time and increasing the potential risk of infection for critically ill patients.

Furthermore, since these devices eliminate the need for intra- or inter-hospital transport of critically ill patients, they prevent transportation-associated complications such as ventilator asynchrony and loss of intravenous access, among others. Furthermore, removing transportation promotes healing for the patients receiving imaging and those that are not.

Technological advancements have made mobile medical imaging systems, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray, ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) scanners, more compact and portable. This allows them to be easily moved between clinical and non-clinical settings, including intensive care units (ICUs), emergency departments, operating rooms, physician offices, road and air ambulances and patient homes. Their portability can help reduce healthcare delivery inequalities, especially for underserved populations in remote and rural areas.

The innovative mobile medical imaging technologies offer promising features, including rapid, accurate, efficient, and effective disease diagnosis, along with the ability to improve patients’ health outcomes. The novel mobile medical imaging systems with advanced image processing and noise cancellation technologies provide clinicians with sharp, high-quality patient images. Additionally, mobile medical imaging technologies enable cost savings by avoiding repeated patient transfers for medical imaging procedures and unnecessary hospital admissions.

The impact of novel mobile medical imaging technologies

MRI: Novel portable MRI systems have redefined the traditional concept of MRI scanners, which were typically confined to hospitals, required significant installation and maintenance costs, and involved long patient wait times. Portable MRI systems support point-of-care (POC) clinical decisions for complex conditions such as brain injuries by producing clear and detailed brain images at the patient’s bedside. They play an instrumental role in time-sensitive brain-related complications such as stroke.

For instance, Hyperfine has developed a portable MRI system, the Swoop system, that combines ultra-low-field magnetic resonance, radio waves, and artificial intelligence (AI) to enable MRI procedures at POC, improving access to neuroimaging for critically ill patients. It can be controlled by an Apple iPad Pro mobile digital device and takes a few minutes to set up. The portable MRI system stands as an ideal solution for brain imaging in ICUs, paediatric facilities, and other healthcare settings. The Swoop system can be used for different conditions, including stroke, ventriculomegaly, and intracranial mass effects.

X-Ray: Mobile X-ray scanners are lightweight, compact, battery-powered, and foldable devices that enable POC medical imaging and wireless transmission and storage of medical images. Advanced image processing technologies and noise reduction circuits in these scanners help suppress the scattering and attenuation of X-ray signals, producing clear radiographic images with high diagnostic value for health professionals. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), portable X-ray systems coupled with AI-powered computer-aided detection (CAD) software solutions can significantly enhance diagnostic capability, efficacy, efficiency, and advantages. The endorsement by the WHO can play a vital role in improving health screening procedures for conditions such as tuberculosis (TB) in countries such as the UAE, which have the highest number of international migrants, accounting for 87.9 per cent of the total population with most of them emigrating from regions with high TB burden.

The broad clinical applications of portable X-ray systems include examination for pneumonia, lung cancer, bone fractures, heart diseases, kidney stones, infections, and paediatric imaging. Novel portable X-ray systems utilise high-frequency X-rays for precise X-ray delivery and high-quality images. For example, Prognosys Medical Systems (India) has developed the Prorad Atlas Ultraportable X-ray system, a lightweight and portable system that comprises a microprocessor-controlled high-frequency X-ray generator that ensures accurate X-ray delivery and generates high-quality images.

Notably, the Middle East is experiencing swift progress as global players in medical imaging recognise its importance and the need for mobile medical imaging technologies. For instance, US-based United Imaging formed a three-year partnership with Al Mana Group (Saudi Arabia) in February 2024, where AI Mana Hospital will be promoted as a training centre and strategic site for digital mobile X-rays in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region.

Ultrasound: Mobile ultrasound systems include wearable, wireless or wired handheld and cart-based ultrasound scanners with flexible, miniature ultrasound arrays as well as compact linear and curved transducers. The scanners use AI algorithms to recognise different structures in the human torso and automatically adjust settings, such as frequency and depth of penetration, to optimise imaging. These devices can carry out superficial and deep anatomy imaging at the bedside while also facilitating faster data processing, allowing patient images to show more granular details necessary to detect conditions such as decompensated heart failure, coronary artery disease, congenital abnormalities of the foetus and pleural and pulmonary diseases. Through the teleultrasound feature in the scanners, clinicians can share real-time images, videos, and audio with different healthcare professionals to enable remote consultation for optimising patient care. For instance, GE Healthcare unveiled its Vscan Air SL handheld ultrasound scanner at Arab Health 2024, which is designed to offer shallow and deep crystal-clear imaging with remote feedback features to enable rapid and accurate cardiac and vascular assessments in patients.

With the goal of improving mobile ultrasound scanner adoption in their practice, healthcare providers in the Middle East are focusing on upskilling their medical practitioners using state-of-the-art technologies. For example, in May 2022, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, one of UAE’s largest hospitals, launched a point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) academy aimed at equipping medical practitioners with AI-guided POCUS device to enhance the physical examination of patients at the bedside. Furthermore, in February 2024, SEHA Virtual Hospital, one of the world's largest virtual hospitals based in Saudi Arabia, performed a historic teleoperated ultrasound scan at its facility using Wosler’s Sonosystem to demonstrate the telemedicine platform’s ability to empower healthcare professionals to deliver timely and accurate care to patients regardless of their location.

CT: The mobile CT scanners can perform full-body scanning or scan specific body parts, including the head, to generate high-quality cross-sectional images (slices) of internal organs. This facilitates the detection of conditions such as stroke, pneumonia, bronchi inflammation, brain injuries and skull fractures. Mobile CT scanners reduce noise and metal artifacts, delivering enhanced contrast and sharpness in patient images. The devices are witnessing the integration of photon counting detectors (PCD) that offer ultra-high-resolution mode to provide scans with unprecedented levels of clarity and detail that can improve disease diagnosis. The additional layer of laminated lead within the mobile CT scanners’ covers decreases radiation scattering, offering operators an extra layer of protection, thus reducing the long-term harmful effects of radiation on healthcare staff.

For example, Neurologica has developed the OmniTom Elite PCD scanner, which delivers high-quality, non-contrast CT imaging. It supports enhanced grey and white matter differentiation and eliminates artifacts such as streaking, beam hardening, and calcium blooming even in challenging patient cases.

The Middle East region faces a huge burden of cerebrovascular diseases, especially stroke, with countries such as Saudi Arabia having a high age-standardised point prevalence of stroke (1967.7 cases per 100,000 population). To combat this burden, SEHA Virtual Hospital is offering virtual stroke care services through the use of CT scans to improve the accuracy of disease diagnosis and, subsequently, the speed of medical interventions to improve patient health outcomes.

Current roadblocks and the path ahead

Since mobile imaging systems, primarily MRI and CT scanners, have narrower bores and smaller interior spaces than traditional imaging systems, it may cause imaging scan-related anxiety, especially among claustrophobic patients. The introduction of an in-bore infotainment system in the scanners that offer high-quality audio-video customised content can make it possible to help patients get through the scanning procedure with ease. The immersive experience provided to the patients helps cancel some of the noise of the device while allowing them to hear voice commands from the technologist. This can help eliminate anxiety among patients while performing scans.

Another significant challenge with the use of mobile medical imaging is the cybersecurity of the patient’s personal and health information captured by these technologies, which is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Additionally, stringent regulations around patient data privacy and data sharing might impact the adoption of mobile medical imaging systems in the market. Market participants should consider a robust data encryption and secure data transmission protocol implementation to ensure that patients’ information is protected.

Key growth opportunities for mobile medical imaging

Mobile medical imaging manufacturers should focus on developing new modes in the systems that would allow them to offer coloured imaging features. Using AI models, the current greyscale anatomical images produced by systems such as mobile ultrasound scanners can be enhanced using distinctive colours along with patterns and labels. These coloured images can help clinicians significantly improve their image interpretation skills, allowing them to quickly identify different components of body parts such as fat, water, and calcium, as well as anomalies, enabling more accurate disease diagnosis and personalisation of treatment in the patients.

Device manufacturers, especially those developing CT and MRI scanners, can focus on incorporating AI-based triage tools into these devices. These tools can help rapidly triage and prioritise critical patient cases using advanced risk stratification algorithms. These algorithms allow clinicians to prioritise high-risk patients on the radiology worklists to accelerate the diagnostic process for urgent cases.

There is also a need to shift from a one-time payment model used predominantly by vendors of mobile medical imaging systems to subscription payment models, wherein the end users can be charged small, fixed costs for bundled add-on services such as AI applications and remote feedback instead of a one-time large upfront cost. The subscription business model can lower the initial cost of the scanners for the users, thus helping in increasing the products’ adoption among cost-sensitive customers.

Local governments in other Middle Eastern countries can focus on replicating the Healthcare Sandbox programme set up by the Saudi Ministry of Health (MoH). This programme aims to provide a business-friendly, safe experimental environment to drive public-private collaboration on the incubation of emerging and innovative healthcare technologies, including mobile medical imaging systems.

Fostering health equity among patients through mobile medical imaging systems

The adoption of mobile medical imaging systems can promote a shift towards a more dynamic, patient-centred healthcare delivery model to improve the quality of care. By addressing infrastructural and geographical barriers to healthcare access, these systems act as catalysts for democratising the availability of crucial diagnostic services to patients. By fostering health equity, the mobile medical imaging systems enable a fundamental redefinition of healthcare as a universal right of individuals rather than a privilege.

References available on request.

Neeraj Nitin Jadhav and Ashish Anil Kaul are Industry Analysts at TechVision, Frost & Sullivan.