September 6, 2022 — The widespread use of C-arms across radiology, cardiology, and surgery departments at larger hospitals is contributing to healthy growth prospects for the modality, according to IMV Medical Information Division’s newly published 2022 Fixed C-arm Market Outlook Report.

The current C-arm installed base is concentrated in radiology and cardiology departments of larger hospitals. As of the 2022 survey, C-arms are installed in 64% of radiology and 63% of cardiology-related departments.

In terms of units, 42% of fixed C-arms are located in cardiology-related departments, 35% are in radiology-related departments, and 23% are in surgery-related departments. Hospitals with more than 200 beds are much more likely to have fixed C-arms installed in more than one department compared to hospitals with less than 200 beds.

In hospitals with more than 200 beds, 73%-85% have a C-arm in more than one department. In contrast, for hospitals with less than 200 beds, 64% have a C-arm installed in just a single department.

In 2021, the majority of patient cases on fixed C-arms were performed in cardiology- and radiology-related departments, with roughly 40% of cases each, the remaining 20% of cases were performed in surgery-related departments, according to the IMV survey.

Larger hospitals are performing a significant share of the overall C-arm cases. In 2021, the largest 400+ bed hospitals accounted for 44% of the reported patient cases, adding in the 25% share of cases performed at 300 to 399 bed hospitals brings the total share of C-arm cases performed at 300+ bed hospitals to almost 70%.

Looking ahead through 2022, the number of patient cases on fixed C-arms is projected to increase by roughly 16% year over year, according to estimates from survey respondents.

Demand for fixed C-arm systems is likely to remain high, with 62% of hospitals considering (responses of “Maybe Planning” or “Yes, Plan to Acquire”) the purchase of a fixed C-arm system between 2023 and 2025.

Regarding portable C-arms, a robust 88% majority of hospitals reported that they use portable/mobile C-arm units in their surgery/operating department. The top use of portable C-arms is for general surgery and orthopedic procedures, and in line with this, orthopedic and general surgeons are the most likely physicians to be using portable C-arms.

Demand for portable units is healthy as well, with 53% of hospitals considering (responses of “Yes, planning” or “Maybe planning”) the purchase of portable C-arm units from 2022 through 2025.

Regarding the availability of C-arms for patient procedures, departments with C-arms are open for an average of 41.1 hours during the week and an average of 7.2 hours on weekends. Smaller hospitals with less than 100 beds are open an average of 0.8 hours through the weekend with 100+ bed hospitals being open around 8 hours per weekend.

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

IMV’s 2022 Fixed C-arm 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 2022 Fixed C-arm Market Outlook Report was published in August 2022 and is based on responses from 203 radiology/departmental administrators who participated in IMV’s nationwide survey in May – June 2022. Their responses have been projected to the IMV-identified universe of hospitals and imaging centers in the U.S. that use C-arm systems to perform imaging procedures, and the report provides market forecast scenarios addressing the C-arm unit market in the United States for 2022-2022. Vendors covered in this report include GE, Philips, Siemens, Canon, Hologic, Ziehm, Medtronic, Shimadzu and more.

For information about purchasing IMV’s 2022 Fixed C-arm Market Outlook Report, 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

2022 Nuclear Medicine department procedure volumes are expected to increase but reimbursement, revenue and net income are expected to stay the same, according to IMV Medical Information Division’s newly published 2022 Nuclear Medicine Market Outlook Report. Compared to IMVs 2018 Nuclear Medicine Market Outlook Report, respondents are more optimistic about procedure volume and less pessimistic about revenue, reimbursement and net income, indicating an improvement in sentiment for centers utilizing Nuclear Medicine (NM) systems.

As of early 2022 COVID-19 continued to have an impact on NM operations, with 11% of respondents indicating it as having a “high impact” and 35% stating a “medium impact” in their facilities. The impact was primarily driven by requirements for technologists to wear PPE, cancellations or no-shows of appointments due to fear of exposure to COVID and/or stay at home guidelines and by declines in patient volumes.

Supply chain challenges associated with COVID-19 have resulted in 14% of sites that use radiopharmaceuticals indicating there have been changes in how they order NM radiopharmaceuticals. These changes include changes to order frequency and timing as well as reduced dosing.

Nuclear medicine departments continue to prioritize improving patient satisfaction with their NM experience and satisfying the needs of referring physicians according to the 2022 IMV study. These priorities are closely followed by a focus on managing staffing levels to meet patient volume and scheduling needs, obtaining/maintaining Nuclear Medicine department accreditation and improving NM department workflow and productivity.

Currently, an estimated 25% of nuclear medicine sites perform radionuclide therapy procedures. This percentage increases to 45-65% of sites performing these procedures when only considering 200+ bed hospitals.

Most fixed NM cameras are currently installed in hospitals (57%) with 43% in non-hospital locations. Within non-hospital locations, 74% of the 43% non-hospital locations (32% of total) are physician office locations.

The installed base of fixed NM cameras increased slightly, by 2% to 14,860 units, compared to the 2018 study, driven primarily by an 11.9% increase in installations at non-hospital sites. 

In 2022, a combined 41% of sites are “Yes” or “Maybe” planning to purchase NM cameras over the next three years. Indicating NM camera purchase intent is down from 53% of sites in 2018 and in line with 40% of sites in 2015.

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

IMV’s 2022 Nuclear Medicine 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 2022 Nuclear Medicine Market Outlook Report was published in June 2022 and is based on responses from 338 radiology/Nuclear Medicine administrators who participated in IMV’s nationwide survey in February – April 2022. Their responses have been projected to the IMV-identified universe of hospitals and imaging centers in the U.S. that use Nuclear Medicine systems to perform Nuclear Medicine imaging, and the report provides market forecast scenarios addressing the Nuclear Medicine unit market in the United States for 2021-2024. Vendors covered in this report include Siemens, GE, Philips, Canon, Digirad, Spectrum Dynamics and more.

For information about purchasing IMV’s 2022 Nuclear Medicine Market Outlook Report, visit the corporate website at http://www.imvinfo.com or call 703-778-3080 ext. 1033 to speak with a representative.Disclosure: IMV Medical Information Division is a sister company of AuntMinnie.com.

Varian has received 2021 ServiceTrak awards in multiple categories related to customer satisfaction in the company’s radiation therapy business. Varian received the awards at the RSNA 2021 meeting.

IMV’s ServiceTrak reports are derived from phone interviews IMV conducts with imaging professionals in hospital departments and independent imaging centers in the U.S. Respondents are asked to rate their level of satisfaction with equipment manufacturers, as well as system performance and the quality of service received for their imaging equipment

Varian received ServiceTrak awards in the following categories:
Best Customer Satisfaction — Radiation Oncology
Best System Performance — Radiation Oncology
Best Service — Radiation Oncology

The awards were presented to Varian executives at RSNA 2021 by Tom Ogburn, chief commercial officer of IMV’s parent company, Science and Medicine Group.

Siemens Healthineers has received 2021 ServiceTrak Awards in multiple categories related to customer satisfaction in the company’s medical imaging business. Siemens received the awards at the RSNA 2021 meeting.

Siemens Healthineers received ServiceTrak awards in the following categories:
Best Customer Satisfaction — CT
Best Customer Satisfaction — MR
Best Customer Satisfaction — Nuclear Medicine (SPECT)
Best System Performance — Nuclear Medicine (SPECT)
Best Customer Satisfaction — PET
Best System Performance — PET

The awards were presented to Siemens executives at RSNA 2021 by Tom Ogburn, chief commercial officer of IMV’s parent company, Science and Medicine Group.

An estimated 126.8 million X-ray procedures were performed on fixed general X-ray systems in main radiology departments and other locations managed by radiology, according the newly released 2021 X-ray DR/CR Market Outlook Report.  Technology advancements have contributed to the adoption of DR systems while usage of CR systems has declined throughout the past decade.

Market drivers to reduce radiation exposure for patients and faculty has contributed to the increase in demand for DR systems.  Compared to IMV’s 2010 study, the adoption of DR systems has progressed quickly, as the percentage of main radiology departments having DR systems has grown from 9% to the current 82%, while those having CR systems has declined from 81% to 8% of facility sites.  Keeping hospital departments up to date with state-of-the-art technology is a departmental priority with 73% of IMV’s 2021 survey respondents rating this as important.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact nationwide on workflow procedures and lead to an increase in the usage of mobile systems.  According to IMV’s survey conducted from April to May 2021, 87% of the general X-ray sites reported that radiology owns or manages mobile/portable X-ray imaging units.  64% of respondents reported a recent surge in the use of mobile X-ray equipment within their facility.  Radiology departments are planning to purchase additional mobile systems in the upcoming years.

IMV’s 2021 survey concluded almost three quarters (88%) of mobile X-ray units owned/managed by radiology use DR technology and 12% use CR cassettes only.  Respondents reported systems located outside of the main radiology department (that are owned or managed by radiology) are in the emergency room (69%), inpatient/med-surg floors (57%), surgery/OR (48%) and intensive care/ICU (41%).

More information on this topic can be obtained in IMV’s full report — X-Ray Market Outlook

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Jennifer Weldon is Senior Imaging Analyst, at IMV Medical Information Division, part of Science and Medicine Group.  IMV’s  2021 X-ray DR/CR Market Outlook Report discovers market trends in U.S. hospitals and radiology centers, including procedure volume, manufacture installed base and market share, the use of OEM vs. third-party service providers, purchase plans, and site operations characteristics.  IMV’s  2021 X-ray DR/CR Market Outlook Report was published in July 2021 and is based on responses from 294 X-ray administrators/managers of radiology who participated in IMV’s nationwide survey from April-May 2021. Their responses have been projected to the IMV-identified universe of hospitals and x-ray centers in the U.S. that use fixed and mobile X-ray DR/CR systems from 2021-2024.  Vendors covered in this report include Agfa, Carestream, Canon/Toshiba, Del Medical, Fujifilm, GE, Konica Minolta, Philips, Samsung, Siemens, Shimadzu, and Swissray.