Angiography procedures gain momentum

Angiography lab procedures are experiencing strong growth in hospitals larger than 200 beds, according to a report recently released by market research firm Technology Marketing Group. In its census, Des Plaines, IL-based TMG surveyed 1680 angiography hospital sites at 2290 hospitals of 150 or more beds, which performed 2.5 million angiography and nonangiography procedures on 2330 imaging units in 1998.

TMG discovered an expansion of angiography into interventional procedures, a trend that is expected to continue. An estimated 500 of the angiography sites told TMG they plan to acquire 530 angiography x-ray systems between 1998 and 2001. Of these, 30% represent additional systems rather than replacement units.

In 1998, average angiography lab procedures per site at all sites greater than 200 beds was 1620, an increase of 16.5% over the 1390 recorded in TMG’s 1995 survey. In a survey subset of hospitals with more than 400 beds, average angiography lab procedures per site was 2510, a 24.3% increase over the 2020 procedures reported in 1995. Slightly smaller growth was seen at hospitals with 200 to 300 beds, with those sites reporting an average of 1140 procedures, an 18% increase over the 965 posted three years ago.