According to a recent study, patients made an estimated 24.5 million radiation therapy or related visits to US radiation oncology sites in 2007, a five per cent increase on 2006.

According to a recent study published by IMV Medical Information Division, patients made an estimated 24.5 million radiation therapy or related visits to 2,110 US radiation oncology sites in 2007. Compared to 2006, this represents a ~ five per cent increase in total visits, from 23.2 million. The top three cancer site types include prostate, breast and lung cancer, which account for 21 per cent, 20 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, of all cancer site types treated using radiation therapy.

"While the number of patients treated with radiation therapy every year is relatively stable, the technological sophistication of radiation oncology departments is continuing to advance. Digital imaging has become integrated into treatment planning and to guide tumor treatment real-time," observed Lorna Young, Senior Director, Market Research. "Over half of the radiation oncology sites provide treatments using Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT), up from 15 per cent of the sites in 2004, using either a dedicated IGRT imaging device or electronic portal imaging. Ultrasound, x-ray and CT are the primary imaging modalities used in IGRT."

IMV's 2007 Radiation Oncology Market Summary Report describes trends in the adoption of therapeutic techniques, equipment and radioactive agents. Equipment types covered include linear accelerators, CT and PET/CT simulators, treatment planning systems, IGRT, record and verify / information management systems, remote afterloader brachytherapy and dedicated radiosurgery. Other technologies covered include IMRT, inverse planning, conformal radiotherapy, intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT), stereotactic radiosurgery and prostate seed therapy. Highlights include:

• Nearly all (97 per cent) of the radiation therapy treatment plans use CT images, 11 per cent use MRI and 11 per cent use PET images
• CT simulators comprised over 90 per cent of the simulators installed in 2007
• Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) has been adopted by 87 per cent of the radiation oncology sites
• Sites having budgets of $1.5+ million have increased from 15 per cent of 2003 capital budgets to 32 per cent of 2008 budgets.

The data source for this report is IMV's 2006/07 Radiation Oncology Census Database, which provides comprehensive profiles of radiation oncology sites in the United States. The database can be licensed by qualified subscribers and includes
contact and site-specific information. Applications of the database include market analysis, market development, target marketing, lead generation, installed base marketing programs, sales territory deployment and competitive analysis.

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