Industry Insights
Increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as breast cancer is expected to drive the market for breast imaging equipment market over the forecast period. It provides help to capture images of breast tissue such as milk lobules and milk duct in the body to study or diagnose for breast cancer. Female who have crossed the age of 40 years or undergoing hormone replacement therapy are more prone towards breast cancer. Rapid innovation in technology and growing awareness about breast cancer is likely to drive the market in coming five years. With ongoing development in technology, the breast imaging instruments are getting more digitalized and becoming more efficient in detecting disease. The number of patients suffering from breast cancer is higher in developed economies but the death rate is much lower than developing nations owing to the presence of sophisticated technology and stable financial condition. The other possible reason is that in developing economies breast cancer are diagnosed in the terminal stage due to low rate of literacy among female. Therefore, the international association of healthcare isurging the government of different countries to assure advancement of cancer diagnosis equipment and diagnose cancer at its early stage.
Lack of screening expertise, high cost of detection, strict regulatory approval and low medical reimbursement procedure is pulling the growth of this market. Computer aided diagnosis is anticipated to witness significant growth in the global breast imaging equipment market over the next few years. The emerging nations such as India, China, Brazil and South Korea are possessing potential market for breast imaging equipment owing to the increasing rate of outsourcing and rising medical tourism.
Product Insights
By products, the global breast imaging equipment market is divided into tomosynthesis, breast MRI, mammography, breast ultrasound, nuclear imaging, bioelectric images and scintimammography. Mammography is widely used technique for detection of breast cancer and considered as standard technique of breast cancer diagnosis and screening tool in humans. It uses very low dose of X-ray to take 2-D image of human breast and minimizes adverse effect after screening. The breast ultrasound is the second preferred technique used for testing breast cancer. It is anticipated to witness significant growth rate over the coming few years owing to its effectiveness in detecting breast tumor and cancer by examining tissues stiffness. Breast MRI is also found very effective in diagnosis of breast cancer due to its ability to measure breast density by studying breast dense tissues.
Regional Insights
The major geographic regions of the global breast imaging equipment market are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and RoW. North America was the market leader in 2013 in terms of revenue. Due to presence of sophisticated technology, high level of awareness about breast treatment and diagnosis and increasing geriatric population of female are some factors expected to maintain its leading position over the forecast period. Europe is considered to be the second largest market after North America. It is expected to show significant growth by 2020 owing to huge investment in sunk cost and increasing target based population. Asia Pacific region is anticipated to show the fastest growth rate due to introduction of various healthcare reforms coupled with strong government support.
Competitors Insights
The global breast imaging equipment market is monopolistic in nature. The market is highly competitive and therefore, the firms are adopting many business strategies such as joint venture, acquisition, geographical expansion and NDP to survive in the long run. Some of the key market players of breast imaging equipment market are Philips Healthcare, Hologic Inc., Siemens Healthcare Corp., SonoCine Inc., Fujifilm SonoSite Inc., Aurora Imaging Technologies Inc., Dilon Technologies Inc. and GE Healthcare Ltd.
