Global histology and cytology market is estimated to witness high growth, owing to increasing demand for personalized medicine & technological advancements
Global histology and cytology market is estimated to be valued at USD 19.52 Bn in 2024, exhibiting a CAGR of 13.4% over the forecast period of 2024-2031. Growing prevalence of cancer and increasing demand for rapid and accurate diagnosis can drive the market growth. Furthermore, growing focus on personalized medicine can drive the histology and cytology market growth.
Market Dynamics:
Rising prevalence of cancer is one of the major drivers of the global histology and cytology market growth. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide with over 10 million new cases in 2020. Early detection and diagnosis plays a crucial role in improving the treatment outcomes and survival rates of cancer patients. Histology and cytology tests help determine the extent, nature, and spread of cancer by examining cells and tissues under a microscope. This facilitates timely treatment planning and management of the disease. Furthermore, growing healthcare expenditure across various countries is also fueling investments in early screening and diagnostic services. Governments of several nations have launched campaigns to spread awareness about cancer screening. This has increased the utilization of histology and cytology procedures thereby driving the market growth.
Growing Geriatric Population Boosts Demand for Cancer Screening and Diagnosis
Global histology and cytology market growth is driven by growing geriatric population worldwide. As people aged 65 years and over represent the segment of the population most susceptible to cancer and other diseases, their increasing numbers translate directly to higher demand for diagnostic screening and testing procedures like histology and cytology. Cancer rates rise sharply with age, and an aging global demographic means rising incidence of cancer. Healthcare systems must accommodate this growth through expanded diagnostic capacity including more histology labs and cytotechnologists. More screening will mean detecting cancers earlier and improving outcomes.
Advancements in Automation and Digital Pathology Increases Testing Efficiency
Global histology and cytology market growth is driven by ongoing technological developments that enhance efficiency and workflow. Automated staining systems, slide scanning, and digital microscopy have significantly raised throughput in histology labs while maintaining diagnostic accuracy. Digital slides can also be shared across sites much more conveniently than physical slides. Such automation solutions are replacing manual processes to increase volume handled per technician and enable round-the-clock operation. Artificial intelligence and machine learning additionally hold promise to assist pathologists, boost efficiency, and expand access to expertise—representing major opportunities to modernize testing. Automation and digital innovations can drive the market growth as these raise productivity and lower costs.
Budget Constraints Pose a Challenge for Market Growth
One major restraint hampering the growth of the histology and cytology market is budget constraints faced by hospitals and diagnostic laboratories in many countries. Histology and cytology diagnostic procedures require sizable capital investments for setting up laboratories, purchasing instrumentation, kits, reagents and hiring skilled technicians. The operating costs of running diagnostic centers are also high. Limited healthcare budgets in developing nations do not allow adequate investments in advanced diagnostics infrastructure and technologies. This acts as a growth deterrent, especially in low and middle-income countries.
Staffing Shortages Undermine Testing Capacity
Recruitment and retention of skilled pathologists and cytotechnologists can hamper the histology and cytology market growth. The workload strain on these specialized professionals has increased as cancer diagnosis has grown in scope and complexity, but their numbers have not risen to match demand. Low compensation compared to clinical roles also deters interest in these careers. Severe shortages of diagnosticians undermine labs' ability to clear growing backlogs and fulfill requisition volume. Unless staffing issues are addressed through incentives, automation, task sharing or trained immigration, capacity constraints will persist.
Point-of-Care Diagnostic Tests Open New Revenue Streams
Point-of-care diagnostic tests can offer market growth opportunities. Fast, easy-to-use tests performed in doctors' offices or at the bedside could increase the number of patients receiving screening by streamlining the diagnostic process outside centralized labs. As POC tests improve in accuracy and are validated for additional cancer types and other diseases, these may divert some volume away from send-out testing—but their ability to catch more cases early at lower cost could more than offset this effect. POC tests open up profitable new sales channels for test kits and instruments.
Digital Pathology Adoption is Ramping Up Outside Reference Labs
Accelerating adoption of digital pathology technologies beyond large reference labs can also offer market growth opportunity. Smaller community hospitals and private pathology practices recognize the workflow, collaboration, and operational benefits of digitization but may lack the budgets of big labs. Partnerships where digital providers host virtual slides and offer cloud-based solutions on a subscription basis remove infrastructure barriers for these clients. As digital networking spreads diagnostics expertise to underserved local markets, it will stimulate the need for both hardware upgrades and new centralized digital services—representing sizable revenue pools.
Link: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/histology-and-cytology-market-4591
Key Developments
- In May 2024, HistoWiz, a leader in digital pathology services, introduced GLP-compliant lab services, including routine histology and immunohistochemistry. This expansion builds on its expertise in pre-clinical research pathology, from tissue handling to slide digitization, and includes GLP pathology consultation.
- In February 2024, Hologic, Inc. announced that its Genius Digital Diagnostics System, featuring the Genius Cervical AI algorithm, had received U.S. FDA clearance. It is now the first and only FDA-cleared digital cytology system to integrate deep-learning AI with advanced volumetric imaging for detecting pre-cancerous lesions and cervical cancer cells.
- In January 2024, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) and Techcyte announced a strategic partnership to introduce an AI-based algorithm that helps cytologists and pathologists efficiently identify cervical cancer and precancer using whole-slide imaging.
Key Players: Abbott Laboratories, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Danaher Corporation, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Hologic Inc., Merck KGaA, PerkinElmer Inc., Sysmex Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Trivitron Healthcare, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Agilent Technologies, Inc., Sakura Finetek USA, Inc., Leica Biosystems Nussloch GmbH, BioGenex Laboratories, Qiagen N.V., Ventana Medical Systems, Inc., Cernostics, Inc.
