The global market for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the medical devices industry is set to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 29.1 per cent from $336 million in 2023 to $1.2 billion in 2027, driven by the demand for healthcare systems to reduce time, costs and missed detections when diagnosing a growing number of patients with complex profiles, a report from GlobalData has revealed.
The report, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare – Thematic Research,” has stated that the underlying technology that drives this trend is referred to as computer vision, and its diagnostic applications are leveraged by wide-ranging specialists.
Commenting on the report, Brian Hicks, Senior Analyst, Medical Devices, GlobalData, said, “A common use of AI in medical has been in diagnostic settings, where the speed and accuracy of diagnosing difficult-to-identify image abnormalities by the human eye are flagged by AI algorithms. The consequence of this is that more patient profiles can be reviewed while also minimising any potential misdiagnoses.”
The use of AI in decreasing error rates of cancer detection has already well demonstrated, where one study as far back as 2016 showed that pathologists who had utilised AI in detecting cancer-positive lymph nodes had reduced their error rate from 3.4 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
Hicks further added, “Due to the ability of AI to flag potential indication-positive cases in a fraction of the time it takes for physicians, with similar, if not greater accuracy, many additional patient profiles can be reviewed with unprecedented speed.”
Various companies, including startups like Aidoc are specialising in medical imaging using AI and its associated deep learning technology. GlobalData research has revealed that most of the AI-related investments in the medical industry are poured into those within the imaging and diagnostic spaces, as more traditional hardware and surgical instrument-focussed medtech companies have relatively limited opportunities to incorporate such technologies into their products.