With the increase in the population, the incidence of long-term diseases that have a detrimental effect on the quality of life is also rising. Be it cardiovascular, respiratory, or neurological diseases or cancer, all of them are affecting and killing more people every year. For instance, CVDs kill 17.9 million and cancer 9.6 million people every year, while the annual mortality count of air-pollution-associated lung issues is 7 million, as per the World Health Organization (WHO).
Access Report Summary - Photoacoustic Imaging Market Growth
Due to this, the footfall at healthcare centers, especially their radiology and nuclear medicine departments, is increasing, as early diagnosis is now known to be an important step in holistic medical care. P&S Intelligence says that the rising prevalence of chronic diseases and the resultingly surging volume of medical imaging studies will be the key factors to propel the photoacoustic imaging market from $39.8 million in 2019 to $279.3 million by 2030, at a massive 20.3% CAGR between 2020 and 2030. The photoacoustic technology uses a combination of ultrasound and laser pulses to photograph the insides of the body.
As this is a fairly new technology, it is majorly being used in preclinical studies to test both its own efficacy and safety for humans and that of drugs, mostly cancer drugs, on animals, primarily mice. This imaging technology can produce images that are not possible with conventional radiological and nuclear imaging techniques. For instance, photoacoustic imaging is being used to monitor the speed of the blood flow, measuring tumors’ molecular blood oxygen, photograph the vascular network of tumors, and see the molecular pathology of tumors cells, outside the body. With such advanced applications, this technique has helped in reducing the requirement for sacrificial animals during preclinical cancer studies.
The high cancer count is one of the major reasons North America has been the largest contributor to the photoacoustic imaging market till now. Moreover, the region is a hub for medical research and cancer drug studies, which have driven the demand for photoacoustic imaging systems and software. Apart from North America, the usage of this imaging technology is expected to witness a massive increase in Asia-Pacific (APAC), due to the growing burden of CVDs, respiratory and neurological diseases, and cancer in India, China, and Bangladesh.
Hence, as preclinical studies continue to prove the effectiveness of photoacoustic imaging, its clinical applications will increase in the coming years.
