Consumer technology entered the cancer screening arena at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2025) in Las Vegas, where innovations ranged from smartphone-based bladder cancer detection to AI-powered diagnostic tools.
While the event is more known for gadgets and tech products, this year’s CES showcased a range of technologies in digital health, artificial intelligence and image recognition that focused on improving healthcare, with cancer prevention a key theme.
With rising rates of cancer among younger adults, this focus on identifying malignancies in its early stages will become more important to the healthcare system in the coming years.
According to recent data from the American Cancer Society, cancer cases among younger and middle-aged individuals, particularly women, have been increasing. Studies have shown that cancer incidence rates among women younger than 50 are 82 percent higher than their male counterparts, up from 51 percent. Several technologies showcased at CES 2025 directly address this growing need for early cancer detection and earned recognition for their approach.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the group that hosts the conference, awarded 10 percent of their 458 CES 2025 Innovation Awards to digital health companies.
While AI emerged as the fastest-growing category with a 50 percent increase in entries, healthcare also made a strong showing. Among the honorees were a device to detect cancer early in pets, a mobile app to detect cervical cancer and an AI-powered endoscopic diagnostics program to help prevent gastric cancer.
Here are some of the innovations that were recognized for their innovative approach to cancer care:
Galen Health's OncoSight system: this AI-powered screening tool integrates with electronic health records to identify patients at risk of pancreatic cancer months before traditional detection methods. Pancreatic cancer comprises 3 percent of cancer diagnoses in the U.S. While rare in people younger than 50, incidence rates are rising among younger adults, particularly women, according to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Prevenotics-G Pro: This system, which received recognition at CES 2025 as an innovation honoree, delivers real-time endoscopic diagnostics for gastric cancers, ranging from pre-cancerous to malignant conditions. The technology uses an AI surveillance system designed to optimize preventive care. Gastric, or stomach cancer impacts nearly 1 million people worldwide, and is ranked as the fifth most common cancer globally, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.
Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)’s bladder diagnostic kit: The smartphone-based bladder cancer diagnostic program can detect early-stage cancer using only a urine sample. It won a CES 2025 Innovation Award in the Digital Health category. More than 90 percent of bladder cancers can be cured when detected early, but high recurrence rates of 70 percent require vigilant monitoring. Late-stage bladder cancer often requires removal of the organ, significantly impacting quality of life. This home-based system boasts a sensitivity rate of 89 percent, compared to 20 percent for currently available commercial tests, according to a news release.
MTS Company’s AI Doc: This system uses AI to analyze cervix images taken via smartphone, and provides real-time results on cervical cancers. Remote gynecologists review the diagnoses and even provides a second review by physicians in more developed countries, allowing women in underserved areas to access high-quality care. The platform also has augmented reality technology to pinpoint the disease locations, simplifying biopsies and treatments. The number of cervical cancer cases have declined in recent decades, and the five-year survival rate for patients who catch it in its early stages is 91 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute. However, less than half, or 42 percent, of cases are caught this early.
These innovations highlight a growing trend in healthcare technology - the use of advanced algorithms to analyze complex medical data to identify subtle patterns that may escape human detection. They also provide greater access to advanced care for those living in areas with fewer experts and healthcare resources.
For cancer care specifically, such tools could enable earlier interventions, potentially improving survival rates and quality of life for patients. As these technologies progress from the exhibition floor to clinical practice, they may reshape the landscape of cancer screening and diagnosis.