According to a recent study published by IMV Medical Information Division, patients made an estimated 24.5 million radiation therapy or related visits to 2,110 U.S. radiation oncology sites in 2007. Compared to 2006, this represents about a 5% increase in total visits, from 23.2 million.

The top three cancer site types include prostate, breast and lung cancer, which account for 21%, 20% and 13%, respectively, of all cancer site types treated using radiation therapy.

"While the number of patients treated with radiation therapy every year is relatively stable, the technological sophistication of radiation oncology departments is continuing to advance. Digital imaging has become integrated into treatment planning and to guide tumor treatment real-time," observed Lorna Young, Senior Director, Market Research. "Over half of the radiation oncology sites provide treatments using Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT), up from 15% of the sites in 2004, using either a dedicated IGRT imaging device or electronic portal imaging. Ultrasound, x-ray and CT are the primary imaging modalities used in IGRT."
IMV's 2007 Radiation Oncology Market Summary Report describes trends in the adoption of therapeutic techniques, equipment and radioactive agents. Equipment types covered include linear accelerators, CT and PET/CT simulators, treatment planning systems, IGRT, record and verify/information management systems, remote afterloader brachytherapy and dedicated radiosurgery. Other technologies covered include IMRT, inverse planning, conformal radiotherapy, intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT), stereotactic radiosurgery and prostate seed therapy. Highlights include:

-Nearly all (97%) of the radiation therapy treatment plans use CT images, 11% use MRI and 11% use PET images.
-CT simulators comprised over 90% of the simulators installed in 2007.
-Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) has been adopted by 87% of the radiation oncology sites.
-Sites having budgets of $1.5+ million have increased from 15% of 2003 capital budgets to 32% of 2008 budgets.

The data source for this report is IMV's 2006/07 Radiation Oncology Census Database, which provides comprehensive profiles of radiation oncology sites in the United States. The database can be licensed by qualified subscribers and includes contact and site-specific information. Applications of the database include market analysis, market development, target marketing, lead generation, installed base marketing programs, sales territory deployment and competitive analysis. For more information about IMV's Radiation Oncology Census Database and Market Summary Report, visit the corporate website at www.imvinfo.com.

IMV Medical Information Division is a marketing research and consulting firm founded in 1977, specializing in medical imaging and other advanced healthcare technology markets. IMV's marketing consulting services, in combination with our
census databases of U.S. imaging sites with selected modalities, provide clients valuable assistance in strategic planning, customer satisfaction, product development and sales initiatives. Current census databases include interventional angiography, radiographic fluoroscopy, cardiac catheterization, CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, echocardiography, PET, radiation oncology, X-ray/DR/CR and RIS/PACS.

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