The medical imaging display market is expected to show strong growth over the next several years, with global surgical display and clinical review display revenues expected to grow by 9 percent annually from 2013 to 2017, and diagnostic display revenues by 5 percent over the same time period, according to a report from NPD DisplaySearch.
"Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, creating new medical imaging procedures that require sophisticated high resolution and larger display solutions," Todd Fender, senior analyst of professional and commercial displays at NPD DisplaySearch, said in an announcement. "It is this continued advancement of technology and increased demand due to an aging baby-boomer population that are the largest contributing factors to forecast growth."
Several key trends will impact different segments of the market, the report's authors say. For example, larger screens with higher resolutions are becoming more common in the surgical display market and are being installed in increasing numbers in surgical rooms, with the fastest area of growth expected to be screens that are at least 60 inches. And while 2 megapixel displays now account for about 74 percent of revenue in this market, 8 megapixel displays are expected to grow by 83 percent by 2017.
Clinical-review displays, on the other hand, don't usually need to be larger than 22 inches or have greater resolutions than 2 megapixels. However, vendors would rather manufacture displays with wide aspect ratios, which is limiting the supply of smaller displays, according to the report's authors.
"The limited supply of smaller screens, and their higher prices, may entice some clinical display buyers to transition to larger displays, higher resolutions, and wider aspect ratios in order to reduce acquisition costs," Fender said.
The market for diagnostic displays, which accounts for almost half (49.2 percent) of the medical imaging display market, is being driven by an increasing demand for more hours from displays because of an increase in the number of radiology procedures being performed. Surgical displays account for 26.6 percent of the market, which clinical review displays account for 24.2 percent.
A similar report published last fall by market information firm IHS anticipated that the global market for medical-grade displays will increase to $3.2 billion in 2017, up from $2.5 billion in 2012.
To learn more:
- see the announcement
- read about the report from IHS