On Sept. 30, 2024, a University College London research team announced technology that can deliver photoacoustic tomography (PAT) imaging scans to doctors in real time, providing them with accurate and intricate images of blood vessels, helping inform patient care.

Photoacoustic tomography imaging uses laser-generated ultrasound waves to visualise subtle changes (an early marker of disease) in the less-than-millimetre-scale veins and arteries up to 15mm deep in human tissues.

Researchers say the new scanner could help to diagnose cancer, cardiovascular disease and arthritis in three to five years’ time, subject to further testing. The study was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.