Radiation therapy treatment rates show improved efficiency

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radiation therapy treatment

Radiation therapy’s growth was mixed in 2022, with treatment visits declining 2.8% year-over-year but the number of treatment courses increasing by 2.9%, according to a new report published by IMV Medical Information Division.  

But these particular data points in the report — called the IMV 2022-2023 Radiation Therapy Market Summary – reflect a gain in the efficiency of treating patients with radiation therapy, in part due as well to a 5.4% decrease in the average number of visits per course of treatment, report lead and IMV senior market research program manager Davin Korstjens said.  

“The reduction in the number of radiation therapy treatment visits needed per course of treatment is a trend that we have seen continue over the past several years and shows meaningful progress toward improving the experience for patients undergoing treatments,” he told AuntMinnie.com. 

The report also found that, although the external beam radiation therapy installed base in the U.S. decreased by 3.3% in 2022, 50% of radiation therapy sites are considering the purchase of an EBRT system in the next three years, Korstjens said. In 2022, 40% of radiation therapy sites reported having brachytherapy units, and 15% of survey participants stated they are considering the purchase of a brachytherapy unit over the next three years.  

Finally, in regards to image-guided radiation therapy equipment, 97% of sites that participated in the survey have this equipment installed, with the top three modalities being CT or cone beam CT, x-ray, and surface guidance radiation therapy.  

“The gains in radiation therapy treatment efficiency seen so far are impressive and it will be interesting to continue to watch this metric to see where the trend will ultimately land,” Korstjens said. 

Want to share your knowledge of medical imaging? Click here to sign up for the IMV Survey panel today. 

Davin Korstjens is a Senior Market Research Program Manager at IMV Medical Information Division, part of Science and Medicine Group. 

IMV’s 2022-2023 Radiation Therapy Market Summary Report explores market trends in U.S. hospitals and imaging centers, including procedure volume, manufacture-installed base features and share, the use of OEM vs. third-party service providers, purchase plans, brand loyalty, and site operations characteristics. The report was published in June 2023 and is based on responses from 312 radiology/departmental administrators and clinicians who participated in IMV’s nationwide survey from August 2021-April 2023. Vendors covered in this report include Accuray, Brainlab, Cerner, Elekta, Epic Varian, Elekta, Gammamed, GEHC, IBA, Nucletron, RaySearch, Siemens, Varian, View Ray, Vision RT and Xoft. 

For information about purchasing IMV Market Outlook Reports, visit the corporate website at https://imvinfo.com/ or call 703-778-3080 ext. 1033 to speak with a representative.  In addition to the report, all purchases will include a complimentary recording of an executive summary presentation of findings conducted by IMV’s Senior Program Manager. 

Disclosure: IMV Medical Information Division is a sister company of AuntMinnie.com. 

PET prostate scan volumes saw robust growth in 2022

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PET prostate

March 21, 2023 — PET prostate scan volumes grew 46% year-over-year, showing an increase of 3 percentage points to produce 9% of the overall procedure mix by study type, according to the newly published IMV 2023 PET Market Summary Report.

After a 12.2% increase in overall PET scan volume in 2021, PET scan volume remained flat year over year in 2022. However, the change in volume of PET scans varied by site type, with hospitals with less than 400 beds having a 25% increase in scan volume, nonhospital sites seeing a 10.9% decrease, and hospitals with 400 or more beds remaining flat in 2022.

Looking ahead, 47% of PET imaging sites anticipate their scan volumes will increase over the next 12 months, 44% volumes to stay the same, and 1% anticipate a decrease.

Pertaining to radiopharmaceutical usage, 82% of PET scans used F-18 FDG, 7% used rubidium-82, and all other agents made up the remaining 11%.

In 2022, 30% of sites were considering the purchase of a PET scanner over the next three years, up 2 percentage points from 2021. The percentage of sites planning to have capital budgets for PET equipment in 2023 is expected to decrease 3 percentage points from 2022 levels, to 11% of sites, and then to remain flat in 2024.

Of planned system purchases in 2022, 92% will be equipped with a digital detector. The top OEMs being considered for future PET system purchases are Siemens Healthineers with 64% of mentions, GE HealthCare with 54%, Philips with 8%, Canon Medical Systems with 4%, and United Imaging with 2%.

Regarding patient wait times for nonemergency outpatient PET scans, the overall median wait time is six days, with 29% of sites having a median wait time of less than three days. Independent PET sites have the shortest median wait time of three days, and hospitals with 400 or more beds, hospitals with less than 200 beds, and hospital-owned PET centers have the longest, with a median wait time of seven days.

Want to share your knowledge of medical imaging? Sign up for the IMV Survey panel today.

Davin Korstjens is a senior market research program manager at IMV Medical Information Division, part of Science and Medicine Group.

IMV’s 2023 PET Market Summary Report explores market trends in U.S. hospitals and imaging centers, including procedure volume, manufacture-installed base features and share, the use of OEM vs. third-party service providers, purchase plans, brand loyalty, radiopharmaceutical usage, and site operations characteristics. The report was published in March 2023 and is based on responses from 386 radiology/departmental administrators and clinicians who participated in IMV’s nationwide survey from August 2021-September 2022. Vendors covered in this report include Bracco, Canon, Cardinal Health, GEHC, Jubilant, Philips, Siemens, and SOFIE.

For information about purchasing IMV Market Outlook Reports, visit the corporate website at imvinfo.com or call 703-778-3080 ext. 1033 to speak with a representative. In addition to the report, all purchases will include a complimentary recording of an executive summary presentation of findings conducted by IMV’s Senior Program Manager.

Disclosure: IMV Medical Information Division is a sister company of AuntMinnie.com.

Mammography departments expect budgets to grow by nearly 10%

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mammography

January 19, 2023 — Mammography departments are anticipating that their current budgets will grow by an estimated 9.7% per year from 2023 through 2025, according to IMV Medical Information Division’s 2022 Mammography and Breast Imaging Market Outlook Report.

For the first time in over a decade, IMV has relaunched coverage of mammography and breast imaging in its popular market outlook series. According to IMV’s 2022 survey of mammography departments, the top five priorities of mammography departments are as follows:

  • Improve patient satisfaction with their mammography experience.
  • Obtain/maintain mammography department accreditation.
  • Improve staff satisfaction and morale.
  • Better cancer detection for dense breast screening.
  • Satisfy the needs of referring physicians.

As indicated by respondents, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mammography departments peaked in 2020 and is now at the lowest level since that time. The peak impact occurred in 2020 with 87% of departments experiencing a medium or high impact from the pandemic with an average rating of 8.6/10, with 10 being the highest impact. At the time of the survey in the fall of 2022, 21% of sites continued to experience a medium or high impact with an average rating of 4.1/10.

In the 2022 survey, an estimated 91% of 400+ bed hospitals, 64% of nonhospitals, 53% of 200-399 bed hospitals, and 14% of < 200-bed hospitals performed over 6,000 annual mammography procedures per site. In 2022 overall, 25% of mammography procedures were performed for diagnostic purposes and 75% for screening purchases. Mammography-related biopsies are collected at 75% of facilities.

According to the 2022 survey, Hologic has the largest mammography installed base share with 69% followed by GE HealthCare with 20%, Siemens Healthineers with 8%, Fujifilm Healthcare Americas with 1%, and Philips with < 1%.

After a 17% decline in 2022, mammography department budgets are anticipated to grow an estimated 9.7% each year from 2023 through 2025, for sites with a nonzero budget. Regarding mammography system purchase plans, 36% of sites are “Yes, Planning” or “Maybe Planning” to purchase systems over the next three years.

Despite the popularity of the topic, 63% of mammography sites are not currently using artificial intelligence (AI). For sites that are using AI, the most common uses of AI technology in mammography practices are for clinical support to radiologists in diagnostic interpretations, first-pass screening for lesions, to improve image quality output, and workflow optimization.

In 2022, on average mammography sites were open 8.9 hours per weekday and 1.9 hours per weekend. For more details about the current mammography landscape including information about MRI and ultrasound in breast imaging, check out the full report at the link below.

Want to share your knowledge of medical imaging? Sign up for the IMV Survey panel today.

Davin Korstjens is a Senior Market Research Program Manager at IMV Medical Information Division, part of Science and Medicine Group.

IMV’s 2022 Mammography and Breast Imaging Market Outlook Report explores market trends in U.S. hospitals and imaging centers, including procedure volume, manufacture-installed base features and share, the use of OEM vs. third-party service providers, purchase plans, brand loyalty, biopsy modalities and procedures, additional breast care modalities, trending topics in breast imaging and site operations characteristics.

The Mammography and Breast Imaging Market Outlook Report was published in December 2022 and is based on responses from 223 radiology/departmental administrators and clinicians who participated in IMV’s nationwide survey in September-November 2022. Vendors covered in this report include Fujifilm, GE, Hologic, Philips, and Siemens.

For information about purchasing IMV Market Outlook Reports, visit the corporate website at imvinfo.com/ or call 703-778-3080 ext. 1033 to speak with a representative. In addition to the report, all purchases will include a complimentary recording of an executive summary presentation of findings conducted by IMV’s Senior Program Manager.

Disclosure: IMV Medical Information Division is a sister company of AuntMinnie.com.

MR departments optimistic on procedure growth, purchasing

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magnetic resonance imaging

January 13, 2023 — Three-quarters of MR sites in the U.S. anticipate that their 2022 procedure volume will be higher in 2022 than in 2021, according to IMV Medical Information Division’s 2022 MR Market Outlook Report. And that growth will be achieved across all site types.

Independent imaging centers are most optimistic about procedure volumes increasing, with 80% anticipating growth. Meanwhile, midsized, 200-399 bed hospitals are comparatively least optimistic at 70%, although this is still a very optimistic level.

At the time of the 2022 survey, 53% of MR sites were considering the purchase of a new scanner between 2022 and 2025. Compared with the 2021 survey, purchase consideration (“yes” and “maybe”) increased 3 percentage points to 53% of sites.

According to the survey, the top 5 priorities and outlook factors for MR departments are:

  • “Improve patient satisfaction with their MR experience.”
  • “Satisfy the needs of referring physicians.”
  • “Improve staff satisfaction and morale.”
  • “Improve MR department workflow and productivity.”
  • “Reduce patient backlog and waiting time.”

Reducing patient backlog and waiting time was a new addition to the list of top 5 priorities and outlook factors.

In notable trends, artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in MR to improve image quality and improve workflows. The #1 ranked use of AI in MR departments is to improve image quality output, with 50% of respondents ranking #1 or #2. The #2 ranked use of AI/machine-learning capabilities — with 44% of respondents ranking #1 or #2 — is to help the department’s workflow from image acquisition to providing images to the radiologists.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on MR departments peaked in 2021 and is now at the lowest level since 2020. The peak impact occurred in 2021 with 65% of departments experiencing a medium or high impact from the pandemic, with an average rating of 6.9 out of 10, with 10 being the highest impact. In the summer of 2022, 24% of sites continued to experience a medium or high impact with an average rating of 4.2 out of 10.

As of this 2022 survey, GE HealthCare and Siemens Healthineers together comprise 74% of the MR installed base, with 37% installed base share each, followed by Philips with 11% and Fujifilm Medical Systems and Canon Medical Systems with 7% each.

Looking at the MR power injectors installed as of this 2022 survey, Bayer is the leader, with 74% of the installed units. Guerbet accounts for 13%, followed closely by Bracco Diagnostics with 13%.

With lots of recent advances in MR scanner technology this is an interesting segment to watch for the next few years.

Want to share your knowledge of medical imaging? Sign up for the IMV Survey panel today.

Davin Korstjens is a Senior Market Research Program Manager at IMV Medical Information Division, part of Science and Medicine Group.

IMV’s 2022 MR Market Outlook Report explores market trends in U.S. hospitals and imaging centers, including procedure volume, manufacture-installed base features and share, the use of OEM vs. third-party service providers, purchase plans, brand loyalty, and site operations characteristics.

The MR Market Outlook Report was published in December 2022 and is based on responses from 300 radiology/departmental administrators and clinicians who participated in IMV’s nationwide survey in July-August 2022. Their responses have been projected to the IMV-identified universe of hospitals and imaging centers in the U.S. that use MR systems to perform imaging procedures, and the report provides market forecast information addressing the MR unit market in the United States for 2022-2025. Vendors covered in this report include GE, Philips, Siemens, Canon, Fujifilm, Bayer, Bracco, Guerbet and more.

For information about purchasing IMV Market Outlook Reports, visit the corporate website at https://imvinfo.com/ or call 703-778-3080 ext. 1033 to speak with a representative. In addition to the report, all purchases will include a complimentary recording of an executive summary presentation of findings conducted by IMV’s Senior Program Manager.

Disclosure: IMV Medical Information Division is a sister company of AuntMinnie.com.

Dual-energy spectral imaging drives CT purchasing interest

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dual energy spectral CT

November 16, 2022 — As procedure volumes show modest growth in 2022 after a robust 2021, dual-energy spectral imaging CT systems are catching the interest of hospital CT departments and driving purchase intent, according to IMV Medical Information Division’s newly published 2022 CT Market Outlook Report.

In 2022, the top priorities for CT departments cover a range of key topics. The highest-rated priority factor is improving patient satisfaction with their CT experience. This is followed by two factors related to hospital staff: satisfying the needs of referring physicians and improving staff satisfaction and morale.

The next factor highlights a focus on improving department workflow and productivity. Another patient-related factor — improving the capability to reduce radiation dose to patients — rounds out the top 5 priorities for CT departments in 2022.

Regarding factors affecting the future outlook of CT departments, those highest rated indicate that technological and capacity needs are met for over half of respondents. This is backed up by 67% of respondents agreeing that current CT scanner technology meets their CT department clinical and throughput needs, as well as 58% of sites agreeing that department CT capacity is sufficient to meet anticipated patient volumes over the next few years.

Significant buyer interest

However, the development of spectral, dual-energy, and dual-source systems has generated significant interest from buyers, with 38% of overall systems planned for purchase having this technology. When looking at just the largest 400+ bed hospitals, this percentage increases to 58% of planned CT systems having these advanced capabilities.

According to the survey, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CT departments peaked in 2021 and as of the time of the survey, is at the lowest level since 2020. The peak impact occurred in 2021 with 70% of departments experiencing a medium or high impact from the pandemic and an average impact rating of 7.3 out 10. The current impact at the time of the survey in mid-2022 has 34% of sites continuing to experience a medium or high impact with an average rating of 4.9 out of 10.

Estimated 2022 annual CT procedure volumes show slow growth year over year, driven by increases in nonhospital procedure volumes. CT procedure volumes are expected to grow slowly at 0.09% in 2022 compared with 2021. This is following a robust 2021 vs. 2020 procedure growth rate of 15.7%. Hospital-based procedures, while continuing to make up the bulk of the overall procedure volume, have decreased slightly by -0.5% since 2021. Nonhospital-based procedures are up 8% year over year and are driving most of the gains.

Looking ahead to the end of 2022, 72% of CT sites anticipate that their full-year CT procedure volume will increase compared with 2021, 17% expect it to stay at the same level and 9% predict a decrease. Small (< 200-bed) hospitals are the most optimistic with 78% expecting an increase in CT procedures year over year. Independent imaging centers are the least optimistic with only 63% foreseeing an increase and 12% predicting a decrease in CT procedure volumes in 2022.

Overall, 51% of sites are considering the purchase of a CT scanner between 2022 and 2025. Midsized hospitals are most likely to be planning a purchase, with 49% planning to purchase a scanner. Independent imaging centers are least likely to be planning a purchase, with only 15% planning a purchase.

When looking only at hospitals, purchase intent has decreased by 3 percentage points to 31% of sites planning to purchase, compared with 34% in the previous 2021 study. This decline is driven by decreases from < 200 and 400+ bed hospitals, reflecting increased uncertainty in purchase plans and partially offset by increases from 200-399 bed hospitals.

Regarding which original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) are being most considered for the next CT purchase, GE HealthCare is in the top spot with 65% of sites mentioning them followed closely by Siemens Healthineers at 62%. Canon Medical Systems is third with 31% followed by Philips in fourth with 27% and Fujifilm Medical Systems rounding out the top 5 at 5%.

In 2022, CT departments are open on average 12.1 hours per weekday per site and 14.9 hours per weekend per site, for scheduled CT procedures. Across a range of bed sizes, 71%-85% of hospitals are open for 9+ hours per weekday compared with 35% of independent imaging centers. On the weekend, across a range of bed sizes, 41%-76% of hospitals are open for an hour or longer compared with 28% of independent imaging centers.

Click here to sign up for the IMV Survey panel.

Davin Korstjens is senior market research program manager at IMV Medical Information Division, part of Science and Medicine Group. IMV’s 2022 CT Market Outlook Report explores market trends in U.S. hospitals and imaging centers, including procedure volume, manufacturer-installed base features and share, the use of OEM vs. third-party service providers, purchase plans, brand loyalty, and site operations characteristics.

The CT Market Outlook Report was published in November 2022 and is based on responses from 301 radiology/departmental administrators and clinicians who participated in IMV’s nationwide survey in July-August 2022. Their responses have been projected to the IMV-identified universe of hospitals and imaging centers in the U.S. that use CT systems to perform imaging procedures, and the report provides market forecast information addressing the CT unit market in the United States for 2022-2025. Vendors covered in this report include GE, Philips, Siemens, Canon, Fujifilm, Bayer, Bracco, Guerbet, and more.

For information about purchasing IMV Market Outlook Reports, visit the corporate website at imvinfo.com or call 703-778-3080 ext. 1033 to speak with a representative. In addition to the report, all purchases will include a complimentary recording of an executive summary presentation of findings conducted by IMV’s Senior Program Manager.

Disclosure: IMV Medical Information Division is a sister company of AuntMinnie.com.