The market for small and mobile ultrasound units will grow 55 percent over the next four years, reaching $1.25 billion by 2014, according to a new report.

The growth of compact ultrasound will be driven partly by demand from developing countries eager to have cheaper, portable models as well as new uses in emergency medicine and point-of-care diagnostics, according to InMedica, which crunched the numbers.

"We're seeing many more systems being released by manufacturers into the market, and that's really reflective of the success of the compact market so far," Stephen Holloway, a market analyst with InMedica who helped prepare the report, told DOTmed News.

The size of the compact ultrasound sector in 2009 was $810.9 million, Holloway said, up about 15 percent over the last three years -- decent growth considering the global recession.



"You have to look at a viewpoint that we've come through a recession, so growth has been limited," he said.

Developing markets such as Russia, China, India and Brazil will help lead the demand for compact ultrasound units, Holloway said.

While demand in developed countries, where the technology has been around for over a decade, will focus on bedside diagnostics and areas such as needle guidance for anesthesiology, in developing countries the platform could have broader uses, such as a "physician taking [a unit] to a pregnant woman in a village, miles away from any hospital," Holloway said.

The full report, The World Market for Ultrasound Imaging Equipment - 2010 edition, is currently available from Wellingborough, UK-based InMedica.

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