The bulk of the procedures happening in the cath angio lab involve picc lines and central venous access, cardiac angiography and electrophysiology studies, angioplasty and stent procedures, valvuloplasty and pacemaker implantation.

"Depending on the clinical segment, some areas are increasing and others are decreasing," says Dewey. "Electrophysiology is on the increase in the 10 to 15 percent range and there is also an increase in structural cardiology procedures."


Also on the vascular side is thrombolytic therapy, which entails breaking up dangerous blood clots; and chemoembolization, a targeted form of chemotherapy. Some newer procedures making their way into the lab include biopsies, vertebroplasties and radiofrequency tumor ablations, and many labs are taking a turn toward the therapeutic.

"We are seeing procedures grow year-over-year and interventional radiology continues to reinvent itself," says Liane Moccia, marketing manager for GE Healthcare's interventional business. Moccia indicated that one of the only hiccups in the industry might be a gradual downsizing in certain stent procedures because of a recent debate concerning their effectiveness.




The Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and Aggressive Drug Evaluation study, aka the COURAGE study, which involved five years of research spanning from 1999 to 2004 and more than 2,200 people treated at 50 medical facilities across North America, showed no significantly reduced risk of heart attack after the placement of a bare metal stent when compared to medication and lifestyle changes alone.

New lab sales dismal

In 2009, manufacturers of cardiovascular imaging systems felt a serious pinch from reimbursement cuts and uncertainty regarding ongoing health care reform. According to NEMA reports, the entire market is seeing double-digit decline.

"We anticipate that the overall CV market is down somewhere around the 20 percent range. It's pretty significant," says Fabian. "What I will say, though, is that we saw a constant recovery to that throughout the year. Things got progressively better every quarter. In the first quarter, the overall market was down just over 40 percent in Q1 and continued to recover throughout the year. As we look into 2010 and beyond, we see a fairly strong Q4, and there are signs of improvement in CV over the next couple of years."

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