The flashiest diagnostics tools and newest therapies have historically caught the eye of leading-edge facilities, but a stronger focus on quality and value is changing their preferences. Cost-saving technologies have now taken center stage.

James Laskaris, emerging technology analyst at MD Buyline, identified five futuristic technologies that promise to cut health care costs and make procedures safer and more efficient. Some of these innovations are only months or a few years away from clinical use.

1. Microwave radar breast imaging
Researchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K. have developed a potential alternative to mammography that isn’t as expensive and doesn’t emit ionizing radiation. It’s called microwave radar breast imaging and it uses electromagnetics similar to a microwave oven or cell phone.

The Italian company Micrima Ltd. developed the MARIA system, which received CE mark in 2015. It has multiple antennae that scan both breasts at frequencies of 4GHz to 10 GHz while the patient is lying flat on the table.

The device takes less than a minute to generate the 3-D image and it’s comparable to breast tomosynthesis image quality. It’s also ideal for imaging dense breasts because it has deep penetration and is not obstructed by bone or air pockets.

Traditional digital breast X-ray equipment can cost up to $250,000, but this new microwave radar technology will cost one tenth of that. As a result, screening would be less expensive and much more widely available.

Micrima is currently deploying clinical trials at several breast cancer imaging centers in the U.K. to test the technology.

Next: bioprinting human tissue

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