美国超声市场始终很活跃

根据一项最新报告，美国超声市场占了世界总市场的约30%，在2006年打破了13.3亿美圆的记录。

此项报告是由Klein生物医学咨询公司（美国纽约）发布的。该公司是一家市场调查公司，调查结果表明，虽然预算上调了5.3%，升级方面下降了23%，造成市场只增长了2.6%，然而心脏超声市场第一次在2006年超过了放射超声包括升级后的收入。

“心脏超声产品收入上升了11%，其他三个传统市场---放射学、Ob/Gyn以及血管手术变化得很小。”KBC总裁Harvey Klein说。传统市场产品销售占了整个市场的60%，而新开发的产品占了40%。新开发产品的市场增长速度是总体收入增长水平的2倍。这主要是对便携式超声设备的需求。这个市场增长了30%。

根据报告，整个美国市场的领导者是荷兰飞利普医疗系统公司，之后是英国通用电气（GE）、德国西门子公司和美国SonoSite公司。如果按收入单独来计算，GE是世界第一，之后是飞利普公司。Philips iE33心超系统成为2006年美国市场销售最好的产品。

美国超声市场预计以每年5.8%的速率增长在2011年达到17.6亿美圆。KBC公司相信传统市场将以少于3%的速率缓慢增长。KBC预计到2009年收入最多的公司将会依次为GE、Philips医疗、西门子和SonoSite，和2006年的结果一样。

国际市场仍是重中之重，占了整个市场的70%。KBC估计世界整个超声产品销售额从2005年的39亿美圆到2005年的41亿美圆，排除了升级和售后服务的支出。世界范围内按实力排名依次为GE、Philips医疗公司、西门子和日本东芝。

KBC生物医疗咨询公司是一家市场统计咨询公司专门从事医疗诊断图像领域的调查工作。


U.S. Ultrasound Market Hits All-Time High 
       
The U.S. ultrasound market, accounting for approximately 30% of the worldwide market, hit a record US$1.33 billion in 2006, according to a recent report. 
The report, published by Klein Biomedical Consultants, Inc. (KBC; New York, NY, USA), a market consulting company, stated that although product revenues rose a respectable 5.3%, a 23% decrease in upgrades reduced the overall market growth to only 2.6%. The cardiology ultrasound market segment surpassed total radiology ultrasound revenues including upgrades for the first time in 2006. 

hile cardiology ultrasound product revenues grew over 11%, the other three traditional markets--radiology, Ob/Gyn, and vascular surgery--showed little, if any change,?said Harvey Klein, Ph.D., KBC president. raditional markets accounted for 60% of total product sales growth in 2006 while emerging markets contributed the remaining 40%. The emerging markets grew twice as fast as the overall ultrasound market in product revenues. his resulted from strong demand for hand-carried ultrasound [HCU] systems, a market that grew 30%.

Klein reported that the leaders in the overall market, including upgrades, were Philips Medical Systems (Best, The Netherlands), followed by GE Healthcare Chalfont (St. Giles, UK), Siemens Medical Solutions (Erlangen, Germany), and SonoSite (Bothell, WA, USA). In product revenues alone, however, GE was the market leader followed by Philips. The Philips?iE33 echocardiography system became the top-selling product in the U.S. market in the year 2006. 

The ultrasound market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.8% and reach $1.76 billion by 2011. While KBC believes traditional markets will grow slowly at a rate of less than 3%, emerging markets, although considerably smaller, will grow over 16%. KBC predicts the market leaders in product revenues in 2009 will be, in order, Healthcare, Philips Medical Systems, Siemens Medical Solutions, and SonoSite, the same order as in 2006. 

The importance of the international market is highlighted by the fact that it still accounts for approximately 70% of the worldwide market. KBC estimates overall worldwide ultrasound product sales grew from $3.9 billion in 2005 to $4.1 billion in 2006, excluding upgrades and service revenues. This represents a 6.7% growth, which was helped slightly by favorable currency exchange rates. Worldwide ultrasound market leaders were, in order, GE Healthcare, Philips Medical Systems, Siemens Medical Solutions, and Toshiba (Tokyo, Japan). 

Klein Biomedical Consultants (KBC) is a strategic marketing consulting firm specializing in the medical diagnostic imaging field.