Ann: IMEXHS Investor Update, page-8

Why prognosis is excellent for ASX medical imaging stocks​

Medical imaging, also known as radiology, has come a long way since the days of the invention of the X-ray by German professor of physics Wilhelm Rontgen in 1895.
The first X-ray image was the hand of Roentgen’s wife Bertha. Medical imaging has become an essential part of healthcare from screening, diagnosis, treatment selection, and follow-up monitoring of patients.
Today medical imaging covers a variety of technologies including X-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, CT scans, flurosocopy, and nuclear medicine imaging.
So what are the differences between them?

• X-rays basically use a small amount of radiation to display the contrast between soft and hard tissue on film.
• Sonography uses high-frequency sound (or ultrasound) waves to create images of organs and tissues and can also look at blood flow.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) uses electromagnetic fields and radio waves to interact with the body’s water molecules to produce three-dimensional detailed anatomical images.
• A computerised tomography (CT) scan uses a series of X-ray images taken from different angles and uses computer processing to create cross-sectional images or slices of the bones, blood vessels and soft tissues.
• Fluoroscopy can be thought of as an X-ray movie allowing real-time monitoring using a contrast dye which the patient takes via IV, enema or a drink.
• Nuclear medicine uses radiopharmaceuticals to assess bodily functions, diagnose and treat disease, such as cancer.
• Other medical diagnostics are also often grouped under medical imaging including those producing physiological functioning data such as:
  • Electroencephalograms (EEG) monitoring brain function
  • Electrocardiography (ECG) measuring heart activity
  • Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) analysing the body’s fluid composition using electrical resistance.

Growth of market

The medical-imaging market size globally was valued at $38.5 billion in 2020 and is forecast to reach $68.8 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5.8 per cent from 2021 to 2030.
Factors contributing to the growth include an ageing population and greater demand by treating doctors for enhanced optical images for better diagnosis.
An emerging approach to maximising therapeutics’ effectiveness by taking into account individual variability in genetic and environmental factors – known as precision medicine – also is contributing to growth.
Here are some ASX-listed medical imaging stocks that could benefit from sector growth:
IMEXHS (ASX:IME)
Considered a much smaller version of PME, IME is a next-generation ASX medical imaging company, based in Latin America.
IME develops cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) imaging solutions that includes a picture archiving and communications system (PACS), a radiologyinformation system (RIS), a cardiology information system (CIS) and an anatomical pathology laboratory information dystem (APLIS).
IME provides medical imaging software and radiology services in 18 countries, including Colombia, the US and Australia.
The company recently announced that RIMAB, its wholly owned subsidiary, had won its first contract with Colombia’s fifth-largest insurance provider, Famisanar.
Famisanar serves more than 2.4 million patients across 16 departments in the country.
The deal is expected to contribute an estimated $1.1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).