Technologic Advancements Drive European C-arms Market

This trend has been spurred by the need for complete workflow integration in a fully digital radiology environment. Moreover, FPDs provide improved, distortion-free images in comparison to image intensifiers. However, their high cost, combined with a lack of funding for healthcare projects, will pose an important limitation to their adoption in the mobile C-arms segment.

Frost & Sullivan (Palo Alto, CA, USA), an international growth consultancy company, found that the European C-arms market earned revenues of U.S.$375.2 million in 2005 and estimates this will reach $548.8 million in 2012.

"New systems fitted with FPDs instead of conventional image intensifiers are replacing fixed C-arm systems across Europe,” noted Frost & Sullivan medical imaging team leader, Arun B. Karthik. "This trend will be evident in mobile C-arms too by the year 2008 and will be the single, most important factor driving this market.”

FPDs make the C-arm system intrinsically digital and eliminate the need for analog-to-digital conversion of images captured using an image intensifier. Furthermore, they are lighter and more compact, enabling maneuverability and ease of handling during procedures using mobile C-arm systems. In addition, FPDs provide distortion-free images. These advantages, combined with the push towards a completely digital radiology environment, will motivate the C-arms market to completely convert to FPDs.

However, mainly due to their high cost, FPDs are not yet being widely adopted by mobile C-arm users and vendors. Even with fixed C-arms, FPDs increase the cost of systems. Furthermore, with Europe being on a capital investment model, C-arms--particularly mobile systems--tend to take a back seat when it comes to resource allocation, resulting in prolonged replacement cycles.

"The lack of investment in healthcare across Europe has led to price pressures in the C-arms market,” explained Mr. Karthik. "This situation has hindered faster adoption of FPDs in fixed C-arms and has completely prevented its use in mobile C-arms, so much so that only one vendor has introduced an FPD-based mobile C-arm in the market.”

The focus of C-arm system vendors should be to develop an FPD that is both efficient and cost-effective. This would require continued investments in R&D and sustained adoption of FPDs in the fixed C-arm domain. An aggressive, vendor-backed campaign detailing the benefits of FPDs will ensure strong growth for the European C-arms market.



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