Study Predicts Increasing Demand for Portable Ultrasound Systems in Emerging Clinical Point-of-Care Settings

The mature ultrasound market in the US, Europe and elsewhere is being revitalized by new portable applications and portable solutions for new clinical points of care.

Ultrasound is becoming the modality of choice because of its safety, cost effectiveness, accessibility, and portability. New point of care applications include portable needle placement procedures, imaging of musculoskeletal abnormalities, biopsies, image-guided interventions, and noninvasive diagnoses in the field.

Frost & Sullivan (Mountain View, CA, USA) carried out the study and found that the market share of emerging clinical segments was 21.8% of the USD 3.66 billion in total revenues. The market was dominated by European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Brazil, India, and the US, with nearly 75% of total revenue and market volume.

The study found that the market was dominated by portable (laptop), and cart-based ultrasound systems, with 97.5% revenue, and 87.0% of units sold. Sales of premium ultrasound systems are being held back by the saturation of the market in developed regions with conventional clinical applications, by limited budgets, lack of technical resources, reimbursement issues.

Ultrasound manufacturers are focusing on portable systems, with volume and real-time imaging, and 3-D and 4-D transducers for interventional procedures. In the future ultrasound use is expected to grow in breast imaging, dermatology, and therapeutic applications.

Srikanth Kompalli, Frost & Sullivan Healthcare Research Analyst, said, “With improving functionality, performance and affordability, advanced, portable systems will stoke the adoption of ultrasound systems in emerging clinical points of care. In fact, the uptake of portable and ultra-portable ultrasound systems is expected to exceed that of cart-based ultrasound systems by 2019, as demand grows in clinical segments such as emergency care, anesthesia and pain management, musculoskeletal applications, primary care, OB/GYN and general imaging radiology.”

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