Surgical Ablation to Reach $10 Billion Global Market, According to a New MedMarket Diligence Report

June 9, 2010 - PRLog -- The practice of surgery has long employed energy-based technologies to excise, cut, ablate, cauterize, destroy or otherwise manipulate tissue to produce therapeutic results. Various energy modalities --- from cryotherapy to microwave to radiofrequency to ultrasound to radiation and others --- have proven their ability to effect healthy or diseased tissue with more effective outcomes than other physical methods (e.g., the scalpel) can allow. These effects and outcomes include:

- destruction of diseased (e.g., cancerous) tissue preferentially over healthy tissue
- simultaneous cutting and hemostasis of the surgical wound
- creating lesions, as in treatment of atrial fibrillation, that block aberrant electrical pathways
- sculpting of tissue as in laser vision correction
- a wide range of other applications

The number and diversity of clinical applications in ablation is driven by the diversity of the different energy modalities:

- Microwave
- Ultrasound
- Electrical
- Radiation
- Radiofrequency
- Hydromechanical
- Cryotherapy
- Light

Products and technologies in ablation include capital equipment, instruments and disposable probes and other products. It is a robust area in which manufacturers aggressively develop and release new product configurations that improve upon patient outcomes and capture growing share of caseload.

While there is a concentration of some ablation modalities for specific types of treatment (e.g., radiation has long been a predominant treatment in cancer), the modalities that compete with one another for caseload varies considerably from one clinical application to the next.  Therefore, a consideration of the market for any one of these modalities is not complete without also examining the competition presented by other modalities on a case-by-case basis.

MedMarket Diligence's report (described at http://www.mediligence.com/rpt/rpt-a145.htm) on the Ablation Technologies Worldwide Market details the global market for ablation technologies, encompassing discussion of the specific tissue effects of each modality, the current and emerging surgical procedures, the products and technologies under development, the growing list of active manufacturers and developers and the worldwide market, by country/region for ablation technologies by modality.

This 488 page report, with 123 tabular and graphic exhibits, is a detailed market and technology assessment and forecast of the products and technologies in the ablation market for treatment of soft tissues via energy-based modalities, including electrosurgery, radiosurgery, gamma knife, brachytherapy, cryogenic therapy, fluidjet therapy (hydrotherapy), microwave ablation, radiofrequency ablation, laser, thermal ablation, and ultrasonic ablation.

The report describes alternative energy-based technologies and the nature of their effect on soft tissue, the underlying basis of the technology, the requisite systems for their use (including capital equipment, devices and disposables), and their strengths and weaknesses for specific clinical applications. The report details current and anticipated target applications and assesses the current and forecast caseload for each energy-based therapeutic considering competition from any and all alternative energy-based or other therapeutics, with current and worldwide market forecasts (2009-2019) segmented by technology type and specific clinical segment. The report provides segmentation of the worldwide ablation market by both ablation technology and region/country: Americas (USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil), Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, BeNeLux), Asia/Pacific (Japan, China, India, Australia) and Rest of World. The report details the current and emerging products, technologies and markets for each energy-based therapy. The report profiles over 76 key companies in this industry detailing their current products, current market position and products under development.

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MedMarket Diligence provides data and insight to the medical products, investment and other industries on advanced medical technologies through focused medical technology market and assessment Reports and the Medtech Startups Database.