The European mammography systems market

Jan 19 2005

With breast cancer being identified as one of the leading causes of death among European women, several governments have begun to launch extensive screening and awareness programmes across the region. However, some countries have still not implemented the planned programmes due to budgetary or socio-economic constraints.

This challenge is likely to be overcome very soon with governments beginning to realise the seriousness of the disease. This awareness is expected to cause an exponential rise in demand for mammography systems.

Almost all European countries have initiated pilot studies, increasing the scope of mammography systems. Numerous countries have been encouraged by the success of the screening programmes in Sweden and the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands and Scandinavia, where the diverse geographic area makes it difficult to install mammography equipment, mobile mammography units have taken off in a big way. This has further contributed to the expansion of the mammography systems market.

"In France, although there have been initiatives to identify breast cancer symptoms, the digital mammography market has not grown much in the public sector due the country's persistence with film screenings and apathy towards digital screening," says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Srividya Badrinarayanan. "The health ministry is waiting for standard acceptable guidelines for digital mammography systems and if it adopts them, it will be the first country in Europe to do so."

Full field digital mammography (FFDM) segment initially did not show very high growth as anticipated by the market, but with manufacturers proving its advantages in screening programmes beyond doubt, this market segment is all set to take off.

The variety of options provided by FFDM makes it much more efficient than analog screening mammography systems. Features such as transition to soft copy, easy data retrieval, easy assimilation to the digital workflow and integration to picture archiving and communication system (PACS) benefit both technicians and radiologists.

Apart from the screening advantages, FFDM systems provide immense workflow advantages such as online retrieval of the images, absence of films and profit of archiving of images, thereby leading to greater sales.

Countries such as Belgium have adopted FFDM for their screening programmes, further boosting the market for the FFDM. Moreover, as FFDM systems cost as much as five times the price of analog systems, this market segment has excellent potential to increase the profit margins of market participants.

However, some end users, especially radiologists, are not comfortable with FFDM systems, as they find it difficult to manage the enormous volume of data produced by the system. This leads to data mismanagement, which can be a huge deterrent to the FFDM market segment.

CAD application has further increased the scope of mammography systems market. CAD is essentially a set of sophisticated algorithms, which are of immense help in improving radiologists' ability to detect cancer in its initial stages.

One of the major reasons for CAD's redoubtable success has been its easy assimilation into the digital environment. By acting as the second reader, CAD increases mammography systems' detection rate by almost 25 per cent.

"Digital CAD systems are much efficient and have more potential for growth due to the likely expansion of the FFDM segment," notes Ms. Badrinarayanan. "CAD has immense potential in Europe as many North American CAD developers have started collaborating with mammography manufacturers to package the systems with the modality."

The incorporation of CAD is not only expected to enhance the overall market value of mammography systems, but can also specifically bolster sales in the radiologists' end-user group.

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