This review discusses the latest advancements in microwave (MW) near-field sensing and imaging devices for medical applications, focusing on the 1–15 GHz frequency range. MW imaging is non-ionizing, non-invasive, and can safely penetrate dielectric materials, making it suitable for various medical tasks such as detection, diagnosis, classification, and monitoring. The review highlights significant progress in clinical devices for brain stroke diagnosis and classification, breast cancer screening, and continuous blood glucose monitoring. It examines the technical implementation and algorithmic aspects of prototypes and devices, including transceiver systems, radiating elements (antennas and sensors), and imaging algorithms. The review also covers other promising applications like knee injuries and colon polyps detection, torso scanning, and image-based monitoring of thermal therapy. Challenges in achieving clinical engagement with MW-based technologies are discussed, along with future perspectives. Microwave imaging exploits differences in dielectric properties of human tissues to produce distinct responses to electromagnetic (EM) radiation. The sensing system consists of transmitting and receiving probes that emit an incident electric field and capture the resulting altered field. An inversion algorithm processes the measured data to reconstruct a dielectric profile of the scattering object. Two primary challenges affect the inversion process: non-linearity from multiple scattering effects and the ill-posedness of the forward scattering phenomenon, requiring regularization schemes. Common image reconstruction algorithms rely on pre-computed EM models and measured data in the form of frequency-domain scattering signals or their time-domain transformations. The literature presents various imaging strategies categorized into three main groups: direct inversion methods, radar-based methods, and quantitative tomography. The design of antennas is crucial for MW medical imaging, affecting detection capability and practical operating parameters such as frequency bandwidth, near-field radiation, manufacturing complexity, and costs. The review discusses the dielectric characterization of human tissues, highlighting the variability of dielectric properties (DPs) at MW frequencies and the importance of accurate knowledge of EM characteristics for building reliable models. Various techniques exist to measure the dielectric properties of biological tissues, including transmission line, open-ended coaxial probe, and image-based techniques. The open-ended coaxial probe is the most common method for measuring tissue properties in the operational frequency range of most MW applications. The review also discusses current achievements and drawbacks in microwave breast imaging, highlighting the potential of MW imaging as a non-ionizing, non-invasive, rapid, and cost-effective alternative to traditional imaging methods. The review summarizes the main findings in MW breast imaging research, including simulation-based studies on phantom and clinical trials, comparing image reconstruction methods and antennas. Antenna sensors play a key role in MW imaging systems, with recent advancements offering a wide choice in ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna technology. The review also discusses the development of microwave breast imaging devices, including the Meaney system, MammoWave, and other systems developed by various research groups. The review highlights the potential of microwave imaging in brain stroke detection, emphasizing the need for fast and accurate diagnosis.This review discusses the latest advancements in microwave (MW) near-field sensing and imaging devices for medical applications, focusing on the 1–15 GHz frequency range. MW imaging is non-ionizing, non-invasive, and can safely penetrate dielectric materials, making it suitable for various medical tasks such as detection, diagnosis, classification, and monitoring. The review highlights significant progress in clinical devices for brain stroke diagnosis and classification, breast cancer screening, and continuous blood glucose monitoring. It examines the technical implementation and algorithmic aspects of prototypes and devices, including transceiver systems, radiating elements (antennas and sensors), and imaging algorithms. The review also covers other promising applications like knee injuries and colon polyps detection, torso scanning, and image-based monitoring of thermal therapy. Challenges in achieving clinical engagement with MW-based technologies are discussed, along with future perspectives. Microwave imaging exploits differences in dielectric properties of human tissues to produce distinct responses to electromagnetic (EM) radiation. The sensing system consists of transmitting and receiving probes that emit an incident electric field and capture the resulting altered field. An inversion algorithm processes the measured data to reconstruct a dielectric profile of the scattering object. Two primary challenges affect the inversion process: non-linearity from multiple scattering effects and the ill-posedness of the forward scattering phenomenon, requiring regularization schemes. Common image reconstruction algorithms rely on pre-computed EM models and measured data in the form of frequency-domain scattering signals or their time-domain transformations. The literature presents various imaging strategies categorized into three main groups: direct inversion methods, radar-based methods, and quantitative tomography. The design of antennas is crucial for MW medical imaging, affecting detection capability and practical operating parameters such as frequency bandwidth, near-field radiation, manufacturing complexity, and costs. The review discusses the dielectric characterization of human tissues, highlighting the variability of dielectric properties (DPs) at MW frequencies and the importance of accurate knowledge of EM characteristics for building reliable models. Various techniques exist to measure the dielectric properties of biological tissues, including transmission line, open-ended coaxial probe, and image-based techniques. The open-ended coaxial probe is the most common method for measuring tissue properties in the operational frequency range of most MW applications. The review also discusses current achievements and drawbacks in microwave breast imaging, highlighting the potential of MW imaging as a non-ionizing, non-invasive, rapid, and cost-effective alternative to traditional imaging methods. The review summarizes the main findings in MW breast imaging research, including simulation-based studies on phantom and clinical trials, comparing image reconstruction methods and antennas. Antenna sensors play a key role in MW imaging systems, with recent advancements offering a wide choice in ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna technology. The review also discusses the development of microwave breast imaging devices, including the Meaney system, MammoWave, and other systems developed by various research groups. The review highlights the potential of microwave imaging in brain stroke detection, emphasizing the need for fast and accurate diagnosis.