Ultrasound Market Presents Opportunities for Growth

A recent report on the global ultrasound market predicts that worldwide revenues will continue to experience robust growth and exceed US$6 billion by 2012. The flexibility, ease of use, and comparatively low cost of ultrasound equipment has ensured its continued growth in the market in spite of the existing adverse economic conditions. Moreover, the trend to miniaturization and the quick adoption of hand-carried ultrasound equipment is fuelling growth.

"There is an increasing confidence in hand-carried systems globally. Previously the adoption of these systems was much quicker in North America and Western Europe but other regions of the world such as Eastern Europe, Latin America, and parts of the Asia Pacific, are beginning to show significant interest in this equipment. The demand is coming from traditional applications, such as ob/gyn, and increasingly from point-of-care applications,” reported Diane Wilkinson, market research analyst at InMedica (Wellingborough, UK), an international market consultancy company. "The global ultrasound market is being driven by the need to maximize space, time, and efficiency, and hand-carried systems are evolving to adapt to any given environment. This can be seen by an increase in the number of hand-carried products designed for specific applications, such as nerve blocking, [and] musculoskeletal and breast imaging.”

The downturn in the economy is also favoring the lower-end of the cart-based ultrasound equipment market with greatest growth found in the mid-range segment, and higher than usual growth forecast for the low-end segment, especially in 2009. There is a step-wise movement away from very high-end systems due to the increasing functionality and picture quality of systems at the lower end of the market. The improving quality and functionality of lower-end systems is helping to stabilize prices in an otherwise price competitive market.

InMedica is the medical research division of IMS Research, a specialist supplier of market research and consultancy services on a wide range of global electronics markets. InMedica publishes research on professional point-of-care markets such as ultrasound and X-ray equipment, and consumer medical devices such as blood-pressure monitors and heart-rate monitors.

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