Healthy Growth Predicted for Diagnostic Imaging Market

The future is looking bright for the global diagnostic imaging market. Thanks to an aging population and expanding uses of diagnostic imaging, the sector is expected to increase from $20.7 billion in 2010 to $26.6 billion by 2016, according to the recently released marketsandmarkets.com report, "Diagnostics Imaging Market: Competitive Landscape and Global Forecasts 2010-2016."

Leading the diagnostic imaging market in 2010 was x-ray technology, obtaining a 34% share in 2010, the report states. Obtaining the second-largest share was ultrasound with 21%, followed by CT Scans with 19.5% and MRI with 18.5%. Nuclear medicine trailed the other imaging modalities with 7% of the market.

As for the companies producing these diagnostic imaging technologies, GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare have maintained their stronghold on the sector along with Siemens Healthcare. However, companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi, and Hologic are beginning to make a mark on the imaging market as well, the report notes.

The report speculates that next up for the sector will be continued exploration into the fusion of nuclear imaging with different modalities of diagnostic imaging products. Modality merging is exemplified in the combination of PET and CT, SPECT and CT, and MRI and PET technologies. An additional focus area of the diagnostic imaging sector is accommodating the increasing demand for portable diagnostic systems to aid in point-of-care diagnostics.

Read more about the potential impact of handheld ultrasounds from a recent editorial, "Can the Stethoscope Survive Alongside the Handheld Ultrasound?"