The US ultrasound market, accounting for about 30 per cent of the worldwide market, hit a record $1.33bn in 2006, according to a report just published by Klein Biomedical Consultants. The US ultrasound market, accounting for about 30 per cent of the worldwide market, hit a record $1.33bn in 2006, according to a report just published by Klein Biomedical Consultants, Inc. (KBC). Although product revenues rose a respectable 5.3 per cent, a 23 per cent drop in upgrades reduced the overall market growth to only 2.6 per cent. The cardiology ultrasound market segment surpassed total radiology ultrasound revenues including upgrades for the first time in 2006.

"While cardiology ultrasound product revenues grew over 11 per cent, the other three traditional markets – radiology, OB/GYN and vascular surgery – showed little, if any change," said Harvey Klein, Ph.D., KBC president. "Traditional markets accounted for 60 per cent of total product sales growth in 2006 while emerging markets contributed the remaining 40 per cent.

"The emerging markets grew twice as fast as the overall ultrasound market in product revenues. Such markets as emergency medicine and anesthesiology showed excellent growth. This resulted from strong demand for hand-carried ultrasound (HCU) systems, a market that grew 30 per cent."

Klein reported that the leaders in the overall market, including upgrades, were Philips Medical Systems followed by GE Healthcare, Siemens Medical Solutions and SonoSite. In product revenues alone, however, GE was the market leader followed by Philips. The Philips' iE33 echocardiography system became the top selling product in the US market in the year 2006.

The report, The medical diagnostic ultrasound market in the USA: challenges & opportunities in the new millennium, 2006, provides a market forecast through 2011. During this time, the market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.8 per cent and reach $1.76bn by 2011. While Klein believes traditional markets will grow slowly at a rate of less than three per cent, emerging markets, although significantly smaller, will grow over 16 per cent. Sales of PDA-type, hand-operated ultrasound systems could contribute almost one per cent to the growth rate of the overall market. Klein predicts the market leaders in product revenues in 2009 will be in order, GE, Philips, Siemens and SonoSite, the same order as in 2006.

Although the report is primarily a US study, the report does have an important chapter on the international market to round out a worldwide picture of the ultrasound market. The importance of the international market is highlighted by the fact that it still accounts for about 70 per cent of the worldwide market. Klein estimates overall worldwide ultrasound product sales grew from $3.9bn in 2005 to $4.1bn in 2006, excluding upgrades and service revenues. This represents a 6.7 per cent growth, which was helped slightly by favorable currency exchange rates. Worldwide ultrasound market leaders were, in order, GE, Philips, Siemens and Toshiba.

"I believe there is cautious optimism about the future of the US ultrasound market," said Klein. "The outlook depends on the growth of the emerging markets, the success of HCU systems and on how rapidly the replacement market develops from the introduction of new products and technology in the traditional market segments. Regardless, ultrasound will remain a critical part of the imaging modality mix."


Reprinted by permission of PRNewswire