On View
By Keith Loria
Radiology Today
Vol. 26 No. 3 P. 18
The Latest Trends in Medical Displays
The medical display industry has evolved significantly, driven by technological advancements and increasing demand for precision, efficiency, and integration within enterprise and remote environments. As workloads increase for radiologists, display manufacturers are focusing on reducing eye strain and improving ergonomics. Features such as ambient light sensors, antiglare coatings, and adjustable stands are becoming standard to enhance comfort during long reading sessions. Also, with the adoption of color use in graphic user interfaces and multimodality imaging, the market has seen an almost complete shift to color displays.
“Software advancements now enable more in-depth testing, comprehensive reporting, and configurable alerting functions,” says Tara Neill, director of sales and marketing for Double Black Imaging. “These are increasingly vital for meeting industry standards and ensuring compliance across health care networks and remote reading environments. Robust reporting tools help maintain diagnostic consistency by ensuring displays adhere to DICOM, ACR, and state-specific regulations.”
Additionally, LED backlit displays provide higher contrast and brightness levels with longer life and higher resolution.
“Large format options in a variety of resolutions are now available for those users wanting one display vs two,” Neill says. “Photosensors built into the displays for autocalibration are more accurate. They are used in conjunction with sophisticated calibration and display fleet-monitoring software. Color and gray levels are precisely calibrated to much tighter tolerances.”
Jim Salamon, medical displays leader for LG Electronics USA, says AI is one of the trends shaping the medical display industry in 2025. “AI algorithms enhance diagnostics by improving image clarity, enabling earlier detection of conditions like breast cancer and kidney failure, and refining risk assessment,” he says. “Cloud-based imaging for PACS systems is another. Secure cloud solutions enable radiologists to access and interpret diagnostic images remotely, enhancing workflow efficiency and reducing wait times.”
Marcel Herrmann, marketing manager at Rein Medical, says the biggest trend the company has noticed recently is the full transition to large screens and universal display solutions. “Radiologists want a one-stop solution for all kinds of applications and examinations, and workflow is the key to doing more in less time,” he says. “They want to get the full picture. This means a bigger size and more resolution.”
The Home Environment
Radiologists who transition from a reading room to a home office environment create challenges and opportunities for medical display companies. After all, the demand for virtual health care continues to grow, making high-quality displays essential for telehealth consultations and remote diagnostics.
“The remote reading trend has accelerated since March 2020 and is still going strong,” Neill says. “Maintaining the highest level of diagnostic integrity and ensuring diagnostic displays meet DICOM, ACR, and specific state standards are paramount. Workstation ergonomics become increasingly important as users work to reduce stress, burnout, and fatigue while enhancing productivity and comfort.” Many medical monitors now feature flicker-safe technology, water- and dust-resistant designs, and high transmission speeds to support demanding health care environments.
Targeting users who read images remotely, Rein Medical has launched a display featuring a USB-C interface that integrates power, mouse, and keyboard connectivity as well as video transmission through a single cable, eliminating the need for specialized hardware. Additionally, automated quality assurance processes utilize internal sensors to ensure high performance, with results stored in the cloud for comprehensive oversight.
Ergonomics also play a crucial role in the radiology reading room, whether in a home or office environment. Double Black Imaging’s DBI Phoenix Ergonomic Workstation line is fully customizable and features multimonitor articulating functionality, built-in ambient lighting, wireless charging, noise-blocking panels, and ergonomic seating options.
“Ergonomic improvements including antiglare coatings, ambient light sensors, and adjustable stands reduce eye strain for radiologists who spend long hours at workstations, while large-format displays replace dual-monitor setups for streamlined workflow,” Neill says.
Evolving Needs
Today’s medical display manufacturers continually innovate to meet the evolving needs of radiologists and the medical imaging industry. Double Black Imaging, for example, has broadened its range of autocalibrating diagnostic, mammo/tomo, clinical displays, and web management software to encompass the entire enterprise.
“This comprehensive portfolio ensures that health care organizations can maintain optimal image quality and compliance across their entire network, from large hospitals to remote reading environments,” Neill says. “Our 12MP large format display allows radiologists multimodality flexibility in a single workstation, including digital breast imaging.”
Salamon notes that LG offers an expansive lineup of radiology, mammography, diagnostic, and clinical review solutions designed to align with these emerging trends. Monitors such as LG’s 12MP IPS 31-inch diagnostic display offer deep black levels, higher contrast ratios, and ultrasharp image quality to reveal even the smallest details. The LG Digital X-Ray Detector, available in 10- 14- and 17-inch sizes, is a lightweight, durable carbon-fiber and magnesium body detector designed to capture clear X-ray images quickly and efficiently.
“LG’s medical display offerings extend to X-ray detectors, diagnostic tools, and more, including features like multiresolution modes, enhanced brightness, and pathology mode for realistic color reproduction ,” Salamon says. “Our monitors also provide durability, including dust and water resistance, ensuring reliability in demanding environments.”
Barco has transitioned from a monitor mindset to providing a full platform, the QAWeb Enterprise platform, which supports over 100,000 displays that are connected without any need for internal servers, gateways, or relays. QAWeb enterprise supports radiology, pathology, mammography, and clinical review displays. Ketan Thanki, vice president of national accounts for Barco, lists five challenges in medical imaging that are impacting trends in medical displays today: a shortage of radiologists and increasing imaging volume, IT issues, adoption of AI tools, distributed workflows, and the growth of enterprise imaging. She notes that displays need to support more specialties beyond radiology.
“Barco has been focused on solving these challenges and introduced unique solutions to address this shift in workflow and end-user needs,” Thanki says. For example, to deal with an uptick in radiologists working from home or remote locations, the company has expanded its portfolio with dedicated remote reading tools. Its Nio Fusion 12MP mammography monitor for home reading is lighter and thinner and can be used in a variety of environments.
While the adoption of AI tools is growing, Barco realizes the community is still searching for a “click-free” workflow, which has proved challenging. “Barco’s GPU technology has enabled an efficient method for delivering AI tools in real time and on demand,” Thanki says. “DL precise is a tool that enables real-time evaluation of lesions in breast images on the screen using Barco GPU.”
Rein Medical recently introduced large displays up to 32 inches with a resolution of up to 12 megapixels, accommodating diverse medical imaging needs from CT scans to mammography. “These displays incorporate features like Dynamic Gamma and Auto Text Mode, which automatically adjust settings for optimal viewing, simplifying workflow for radiologists who can operate without manual adjustments,” Herrmann says.
Surgical Displays
Anne Bondulich, marketing manager for Sony Healthcare Solutions, notes that 4K surgical displays have become the new standard for today’s operating rooms (ORs). “4K displays produce images with four times the resolution of full HD, allowing surgeons and clinical staff to view procedures with incredible definition and virtually no pixelation,” she says. “Displays with BT.2020 offering a wider color gamut are providing incredible color precision along with HDR [High Dynamic Range] to produce images with a wide range of brightness levels and dramatic contrast.”
4K 3D displays have also become prevalent for viewing 3D images captured by today’s state-of-the-art 3D robotic, endoscopic, and microsurgery camera systems. These displays allow everyone in the OR to view procedures in 4K 3D, improving OR workflow, collaboration, more effective teaching, and the opportunity for better patient outcomes.
Sony offers a variety of 4K 2D and 4K 3D surgical displays that range in size: 27-inch, 32-inch, and 55-inch displays. “We just introduced the LMD32M1MD—a 32-inch, 4K, HDR, mini-LED surgical display,” Bondulich says. “It offers a powerful peak brightness exceeding 1,850 cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 1,000,00:1.”
Gathering Feedback
When designing new equipment, manufacturers spend a considerable amount of time gathering feedback from radiologists and those in the field to find out what they are looking for.
“LG actively engages with radiologists and medical decision-makers to ensure its display technology meets the demands of real-world health care settings,” Salamon says. “This feedback is vital for enhancing diagnostic accuracy by refining image quality and usability, improving ergonomics and workflow efficiency in hospital environments, and developing display solutions that align with evolving medical practices and technologies.”
Barco’s product team conducts interviews with end-users, while its software team interacts with the community through its “ideas and roadmap” feature within the QAWeb. Feedback is sent directly to the product and design teams. It is then prioritized on the roadmap.
New Horizons
In the next few years, Double Black Imaging expects advancements in medical display technology to be largely driven by trends in the commercial display and TV markets. “OLED and QLED technologies will likely make their way into medical displays, offering increased luminance and enhanced black and white levels without compromising color integrity,” Neill says. “This will be particularly beneficial for multimodality imaging and applications like digital pathology, where color accuracy and contrast are crucial. We also foresee displays offering higher resolutions, thinner and sleeker footprints, and longer lifespans.”
In addition to hardware advances, software tools will continue to play a key role in driving productivity. Expect to see further development of enterprise- wide fleet management systems to streamline workflows and improve compliance across networks, including remote reading stations.
Salamon believes further integration of AI into diagnostic imaging will help as well, facilitating increasingly accurate diagnostics. Additionally, the push for remote work and telehealth solutions will continue to drive innovations in cloud-based systems for medical imaging and patient monitoring , he says.
Sony predicts 8K medical displays are a possibility for the future, as well as 3D medical displays that do not require polarized glasses to view in 3D. “Displays will continually become more advanced and sophisticated with technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and AI adaptive decision making,” Bondulich says.
Herrmann identifies trends in the consumer market, such as OLED and Micro LED technologies, which may soon influence medical displays. “The future promises further enhancements in display capabilities, including higher resolutions and improved brightness, while possibly phasing out traditional workstations as more imaging and PACS systems transition to the cloud,” he says.
As the medical display industry continues to innovate and adapt to the demands of remote diagnostics and advanced imaging technologies, the future promises a seamless integration of cutting-edge solutions that will enhance diagnostic accuracy, improve ergonomics, and ultimately elevate patient care in the ever-changing landscape.
— Keith Loria is a freelance writer based in Oakton, Virginia. He is a frequent contributor to Radiology Today.