Angio procedures grow at 4.5% clip, looks up for angio system vendors

From 2004 to 2008, total procedures performed in angio labs grew 20 percent, from four million in 2004 to 4.8 million procedures in 2008 for hospitals with 150 beds or more, resulting in an average annual growth rate of 4 to 5 percent, according to a report from market research firm IMV.

According to IMV's recent census of U.S. angio labs, an estimated 4.8 million procedures were performed at 1,720 angio lab sites in 2008, including non-coronary vascular and other procedures performed in the angio labs.

"Angio lab procedure volume has grown steadily as the procedure mix has broadened to include a variety of peripheral vascular and other non-coronary angiographic procedures," said Lorna Young, IMV's senior director of market research. "From 2004 to 2008, the number of angioplasties, stent placements, IVC filter placements, embolizations and PICC lines/vascular access procedures has contributed to the overall increase of procedures performed in angio labs. We also see that angio labs are accommodating increased numbers of procedures, such as vertebroplasties, biopsies and RF tumor ablations."

"Concurrent with this steady procedure growth, the market outlook over the next two to three years looks positive, as hospitals seek to retool their older angio labs," Young said. "While the market for angio labs has experienced a slowdown over the past year, over one-third of the hospitals with 150-plus beds are planning to purchase labs from 2009 to 2011 or later, and about 90 percent of the planned angio lab purchases will have flat-panel image digital detectors."

The report also found that:

• 51 percent of the angio lab sites had one room, 30 percent had two rooms and 19 percent had three or more rooms;
• The average replacement cycle for angio rooms is 11.5 years;
• 49 percent of angiography sites report wait times for non-emergency procedures of less than one day, 10 percent report wait times of one day, 23 percent report one to two days and 18 percent report wait times of two days or more; and
• In addition to interventional radiologists using the angio suite, vascular surgeons are the second most likely physician type to be using angio labs, performing procedures in more than half of the sites.

IMV's 2008/09 Interventional Angiography Census Database provides profiles of U.S. hospitals with 150 beds or more, performing interventional angio procedures, where at least 50 percent of the total lab volume are non-coronary angio procedures.

IMV's 2008/09 Interventional Angiography Lab Market Summary Report describes trends in procedures, angio lab x-ray systems, contrast media utilization, power injectors for angio contrast, capital and contrast media budgets, and site operations characteristics. IMV's report also includes three market forecast scenarios for 2009-2013.