Microwaves for medical diagnostic radiology: from proofs-of-concept to real world needs

This article attempts to provide an up-to-date overview of the global R&D efforts devoted, over more than four decades, to introducing microwave technologies into the medical diagnostic imaging landscape. To this end, a brief presentation of this landscape is proposed, enabling to situate microwaves in the "space-time" of medical imaging, as it has been progressively developed, since the discovery of X-rays, and occupied by numerous modalities to cover continuously increasing clinical needs. The objective of the microwave community is therefore precisely to determine up to what extent they can meet the real-world needs of the moment, and thus how to identify most clinically relevant and globally cost-effective application niches, where their specific advantages could be advantageously exploited when facing other existing imaging modalities. While the first results of clinical trials conducted with advanced prototypes are coming back, a new era opens for microwave-based medical diagnostic radiology, paving the way to technical improvements and, ultimately, to product development and commercialization. There is no doubt that the methodology used to date by the microwave community for proof-of-concept purposes should need to focus more attentively on clinical acceptability for the end-user and actual patient outcomes, resulting in a suitable shift from a technology-driven to a market-driven business strategy.