Gamma cameras help nuc med sales top $1B
The United States is the largest market for nuclear medicine equipment worldwide, worth an estimated $1.2 billion in 2007, with gamma cameras carving out an $800 million piece of the pie, according to a report from Global Industry Analysts (GIA), a San Jose, Calif.-based market research firm.

The report, "Nuclear Medicine: A Global Strategic Business Report," reviews market trends, drivers, product profile, players, competitive landscape, technological developments, recent developments, mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic activities in nuclear medicine, GIA said.

Europe is the second largest regional market followed by Japan. All three countries account for over 90 percent of the global nuclear medicine market, according to GIA.

Global and regional markets are expected to register compound annual growth rates ranging between 5 percent and 10 percent. The market for gamma cameras was estimated at $813 million in 2007, while the PET scanner market is expected to reach $1.12 billion in 2009, the firm reported.

Though nuclear medicine faces competition from other methods, its impact is limited and demand for diagnostic medical imaging modalities is closely interlinked to the number of diagnostic procedures, according to the report.

The firm said that growing awareness of PET's clinical utility and its synergistic use with other imaging modalities and the ongoing shift to PET/CT and SPECT/CT is one of the key drivers of the dramatic rise in procedural volumes.

In addition, advancements in molecular imaging, evolution of image-guided interventions, as well as aging population continue to fuel growth in the broader medical diagnostics market, GIA said.

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