"We see tremendous growth in DR and have a long way to go for full penetration into the market," says David Widmann, Global General Manager of Rad/R&F for GE Healthcare. "The expansion of our digital line is beginning to reach out into different markets and we have a commitment to make those technologies available even in the rural healthcare markets."

"We expect the market [for DR] to grow. It's not going to 'hockey-stick' grow but it's definitely going to continue growing gradually and smoothly across the marketplace," predicts Kevin Oakley, National Marketing Manager for DR, Fujifilm Medical Systems USA. (As of this writing, the company is anticipating FDA approval for its Unity SpeedSuite, a single-detector, value-oriented DR system.)


Many Players in a Crowded Field

More than 40 manufacturers offer over 80 products for digital X-ray acquisition systems, Frost & Sullivan reports. These include the big OEMs, which are DR dynamos such as market leader GE, Philips, Canon and Carestream Health (formerly Kodak), and Toshiba, along with Fujifilm and Agfa. (Fujifilm will discontinue U.S. production of medical film April 1, 2008 but will continue to supply film to customers.)




Some leading-edge OEM offerings include GE's Definium 8000, which among other features provides automatic advanced image processing so technologists don't have to manually paste multiple images together. (GE doesn't produce CR systems.)

Carestream's DirectView DR9500, is a single-detector design that does dual duty with a ceiling mounted U-arm to keep the bucky and tube aligned while it moves around the patient. At the same time, the company remains committed to CR having purchased leading manufacturer OREX in 2005.

"There's no question that we are continuing to invest in our computed radiography portfolio," says Eileen Heizyk, CareStream's Worldwide Marketing Manager for CR. "Some of the higher-end parts of the market are more saturated and may be moving more to DR, but there is certainly plenty of growth and opportunity in the smaller facilities value tier."

Virtual Imaging, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL is a Canon authorized distributor that specializes in upgrading facilities from film straight to DR. "We can go into any facility and upgrade to DR without dismantling the room, and get equipment to OEM specs," says Kris Kessler, Creative Marketing Director. "We skip the CR aspect and go directly to DR." This is possible because of the versatility of the Canon CXDI-50G Digital Radiography System, which is compact yet large enough for chest and abdominal X-rays.

More Industry Reports