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U.S. Nuclear Medicine and PET Imaging Systems Market Witnessed a Rebound in 2010 with PET Leading the Way.

After witnessing a downtrend for several years, revenues in the U.S. nuclear medicine and PET imaging systems market finally pivoted in 2010. New radiotracers and technologies are expanding the clinical scope and customer base of nuclear medicine and PET imaging; as a result, declines in retrenching areas of the market are poised to be offset by strong growth in emerging end-user market segments. Nuclear medicine and PET are molecular imaging modalities, providing data pertaining to molecular alterations, which are the origin of disease. In contrast, classical imaging modalities, such as X-ray, reveal only changes in anatomy, which are essentially the end effects of disease and its associated molecular alterations. The unique ability of nuclear medicine and PET to enable characterization of biological processes at the cellular and molecular levels is bringing increasing attention to these imaging modalities as medicine evolves toward more personalized forms of treatment, notes the analyst of this research service. This powerful capability of nuclear medicine and PET will become increasingly relevant as personalized medicine becomes mainstream practice in modern medicine. Recognizing this advantage, industry participants are gravitating toward this area of imaging. As a result, nuclear medicine and PET imaging systems market revenues experienced a growth upsurge in 2010, and they are expected to continue growing for the next several years.

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Molecular imaging has been a key enabling factor for treatment that is selected according to a patient's unique disease state. For example, in cancer treatments, numerous chemotherapy options are available, and a patient's response to a particular treatment can vary considerably based on the specific molecular characteristics of the cancer. With molecular imaging, however, clinicians can determine which characteristics are present in a cancer and use this information to make the most appropriate treatment decision on a patient-by-patient basis.

Cardiac Scanner Sales Slow Down as Private Practice Physicians Affiliate with Larger Organizations

Combined with ongoing challenges surrounding the state of the economy, changes in healthcare policy and reimbursement are forcing more private practice physicians and independent imaging centers to opt for affiliation with larger provider organizations. This shift in the healthcare provider landscape has led to rapidly diminishing revenues within the private practice cardiology market, which formerly accounted for a significant proportion of revenues in the more mature and established nuclear medicine segment of the market. Naturally, the evolving healthcare provider landscape has led to changes in the types of imaging systems that are being demanded in the marketplace. For example, the need for dedicated cardiac scanners appears to be diminishing, as more cardiologists become affiliated with larger institutions that often benefit more from general-purpose scanners with a broader scope of clinical application.

Nuclear medicine imaging equipment manufacturers that previously offered only dedicated cardiac scanners have reacted to changes in the healthcare provider landscape by further diversifying their product portfolios in order to include clinically versatile, general-purpose gamma camera systems, says the analyst. A number of manufacturers have also chosen to focus on other niche, yet emerging, applications of nuclear medicine and PET that involve molecular breast imaging and brain imaging.

Source:  Research and Markets