From the April 2012 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Returning for a moment to the cardiovascular side of things, it’s easy to see why someone like Wheeler would emphasize the value of catheter angiography equipment in a hospital setting: cardiovascular diseases remain the leading causes of death and disability in the world today, ahead of cancer in the U.S. and infectious diseases in other parts of the world.

The bigger picture for cath angio
In the U.S., the cath angio sector is slowing down in terms of capital investment spending, most likely due to the global financial situation and the anticipated shake-up from health care reform. But in total, it’s still a growing business from a global perspective.



“Other markets like India and China are increasing, so the total business is stable and slightly growing. But in North American there’s a decline of the market slightly,” says Verheij van Wijk.

PCI procedures in these emerging markets have risen, while the volume in U.S. has declined slightly.

IMV’s 2011 report found that the growth rate for interventional procedures in U.S. angiography labs grew a slight 1 percent annually from 2008 to 2010. In years past, IMV found that total angiography procedure volume in its typical hospital survey matured. From 2004 to 2008 procedures grew at an average annual growth rate of approximately 4.6 percent, so the 1 percent annual growth from 2008 to 2010 does represent a slow-down in procedure volume growth.

“Clearly the demographics would dictate that the volume should be increasing dramatically, but the effectiveness of treatment and new medicines is balancing that out,” says Siemens’ Dewey. “The net result is tending toward stagnancy.”

Where technology is concerned, there’s only room for improvement. Philips’ Verheij van Wijk sees advances in intravascular ultrasonography (IVUS), which uses ultrasound technology on the end of a catheter , driving the future market. It’s a step up from traditional angiography because it shows a cross section of the interior artery wall, as well as layers of it, as opposed to a 2-D silhouette. Technology like this doesn’t just help clinicians grasp coronary physiology better; it also helps them identify which patients might benefit more from one procedure versus another. The new technology will once again serve to unite a team of specialists around patient care.

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April 2012 Magazine

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