Global Medical Imaging Equipment Market

Global Medical Imaging Equipment Market (by Product, End User & Region): Insights and Forecast with Potential Impact of COVID-19 (2022-2026)

Market Insight:

The term medical imaging refers to a number of different technologies that are used for observing the human body, in order to diagnose, monitor, or treat medical conditions. Each type of technology provides distinct information regarding the part of the body being studied or treated, in relation to potential illness, damage, or the efficacy of medical care. Through the use of medical imaging technology, internal body organs can be visualized, improving patient care. It is a crucial part of the healthcare sector designed to aid in improved diagnosis and treatment planning.

Medical imaging devices are now an essential component of modern medicine. The design and manufacturing of modern medical devices call for expertise in a variety of fields, from computer science to material science to physics. Medical imaging equipment market is anticipated to reach up to US$42.61 billion in 2023, registering a CAGR of 4.47% over the forecast period.

Segment Covered:

• By Product: The market report has segmented the global medical imaging equipment market into two segments in terms of product: Ultrasound Equipment, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, X-ray, & Molecular Imaging. The ultrasound equipment segment lead the medical imaging equipment market, accounting for maximum share of the market. The liquid applied membrane segment is expected to experience high growth due to the factors such as technical advancement in the developed as well as in the developing countries, increasing chronic diseases in most part of the world especially in Middle east and Africa, increase in geriatric population along with increases the requirement of regular diagnostic treatments with age.
• By End User: The report splits the global market into six segments on the basis of application, namely Hospitals, Emergency Care Center, OP Center, & Clinicians Offices. Hospitals hold the dominant share in the market. The growth can be attributed due to the rise in demand for advanced imaging modalities, integration of surgical suits with imaging technologies, countries efforts to educate young doctors about the imaging technology, and entry of multinational healthcare service providers in developing regions.

Geographic Coverage:

According to this report, the global medical imaging equipment market is divided into four regions: Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. The countries covered in Asia Pacific region are China, Japan, India and Rest of Asia Pacific, while North America includes the US, Canada, and Mexico. Moreover, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain and Rest of the Europe are included in the European region.

The Asia Pacific dominated the market with largest share of the global market. The region is anticipated to lead the global medical imaging equipment market during the forecast period owing to the because of developing healthcare infrastructure in countries like China and India, favorable policies to invite FDI, and presence of skilled healthcare professionals. Further, North America market is divided based on product: Ultrasound Equipment, X-ray, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging & Molecular Imaging. The ultrasound equipment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR, owing to the rising number of ultrasound applications in the region, recent developments in advanced ultrasound transducers have opened new avenues for ultrasound devices in biomedical and cardiovascular imaging.

Top Impacting Factors:

Growth Drivers

• Growing Geriatric Population
• Rising Healthcare Spending
• Accelerating Obese Population
• Upsurge in Demand for Point Of Care Diagnostics

Challenges

• Shortage of Helium
• Lack of Skilled Radiologists

Trends

• 3D Printing in Medical Imaging
• Integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Medical Imaging Equipment
• Emerging 4D & 5D Ultrasound Imaging Technology
• Cryogen-Free MRI Imaging System
• Driver: Growing Geriatric Population

The drastic increase in the pace of global ageing population attributed to factors such as, declining fertility rates, increasing life expectancies, etc. With an increase in the elderly population, the health issues related to age also get increased. The rise in global aging population leads to an increasing incidence of age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, etc. Due to which, demand for medical imaging is fuelled as it fulfills the need for advanced diagnostic testing, accurate clinical diagnosis, which allows for further medical observation.

• Challenge: Shortage of Helium

Helium plays an important role in the medical industry, where it is used for a variety of applications. The MRI machines are notable using helium to cool the large superconducting magnet at the core of the device. Helium faces a major gap between demand and supply. It is expected that the demand for helium would continuously increase, whereas there would be lack of helium supply in coming years. A helium shortage could increase costs of patient care or even force hospitals to deny certain treatments to patients altogether. Therefore, decreasing supply of helium would hinder the market growth.

• Trend: Integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Medical Imaging Equipment

In medical imaging AI is progressively helping to uncover hidden perceptions into clinical decision-making, connect patients with resources for self-management, and extract meaning from previously inaccessible, unstructured data assets. With multiple megapixels packed data results from X-rays, CAT scans, MRIs, and other testing modalities, combing through extremely high-resolution images which can be difficult to learn even for the most experienced clinical professional. Artificial intelligence became a valuable collaborator for radiologists and pathologists looking to accelerate their productivity and potentially improve their accuracy. Therefore, increasing involvement of AI in medical imaging would support the market growth.

The COVID-19 Analysis:

The COVID-19 has dampened the growth of many industries and medical imaging equipment market took a hit too. Although the industry received a mixed response amid the pandemic, as the demand for CT (computed tomography) released because of the chronic disease, but the practice for general imaging, musculoskeletal, OB and GYN dropped dramatically. Because doctors and hospitals cancelled appointments due to COVID-19 to ensure safety of patients and themselves.

As the market witnessed decline in the demand for MRI and mammography, but the demand for computed tomography and mobile DR system rose. The demand for these system rose, as the virus hit on lungs if the immune system of the infected body is weak, and CT and mobile DR provide beneficiary results in diagnosis. Also, after the pandemic many countries are allocating a marginal percentage of their capital expenditure towards healthcare in order to being better prepare for COVID-19 like pandemic. With these factors keeping in mind, it is safe to say that medical imaging equipment market would be registering decent growth in post COVID world.

Analysis of Key Players:

The global medical imaging market is consolidated. The key players of the global medical imaging equipment market are:

• Canon Medical Systems Corporation
• Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Siemens Healthineers
• FujiFilm Corporation
• General Electric Company (GE)
• Onex Corporation (Carestream Health, Inc.)
• Samsung Electronics (Samsung Medison)
• Shimadzu Corporation
• Esaote SpA
• Hologic, Inc.

Key players in the global imaging medical imaging equipment market are engaged in tregulatory approvals, technologically advanced products, the launch of new products, and acquisition and collaborative agreements with other companies. For Instance, in 2021, GE Healthcare partnered with AWS to offer AI imaging solutions to hospitals. The collaboration would enable GE to offer its Edison Health Services platform and AI and cloud-based imaging solutions on AWS. In addition to this, in 2021, GE Healthcare has also entered into an agreement to acquire BK Medical, a leader in advanced surgical visualization, from Altaris Capital Partners for a cash purchase price of US$1.45 billion.