Medical Robotics and Computer-Assisted Surgery: The Global Market (focus on Europe)

Additional Information

INTRODUCTION

STUDY BACKGROUND

Information technology plays a key role in an ever-widening range of human activities, including surgery. Computers, working in tandem with a variety of microprocessor-enabled equipment and instruments, support and facilitate the work of the surgeon and have brought a level of safety and precision to surgery that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago.

These computers, electronic equipment, and instruments are referred to collectively as medical robotics and computer-assisted surgery (MRCAS) or, more dramatically, “the operating room of the future.” MRCAS is used in a growing number of operating rooms around the world, largely as a result of the growing popularity of minimally invasive surgical (MIS) techniques. Minimally invasive, or “keyhole” surgery is an alternative to traditional open-incision surgery in a growing number of procedures. MIS utilizes special instruments that can be inserted and manipulated through small incisions (sometimes no more than a few millimeters long) under remote optical or video guidance, greatly reducing patient trauma and recovery times.

The need to perform delicate surgical procedures safely in tight spaces where the surgeon cannot see directly has created a growing market for devices that act as extensions of the surgeon’s eyes and hands: remote imaging, data processing and feedback, and robotics. Meanwhile, MRCAS technology has been evolving, as have the medical and economic environments in which it is used. Populations are aging, increasing demand for a wide range of age-related surgical procedures such as heart and orthopedic surgery. Technological advances have expanded the range of surgical procedures that can be performed using minimally invasive techniques, making them accessible to even more people.

The structure of the hospital industry, the main user of MRCAS, is also changing as hospitals consolidate and other health care options such as walk-in surgical clinics become available to consumers. Private and government health insurers around the world are becoming more cost-conscious, forcing hospitals to re-evaluate their capital spending plans but strengthening the case for technologies that can reduce the cost of surgical procedures. Medical malpractice suits continue to be common in markets like the United States, so technologies that increase the precision and accuracy of surgery have obvious appeal.

In such a fast-moving field, there is a pressing need to develop and maintain an up-to-date base of market information in order to better understand the dynamics of the market for MRCAS devices and equipment.

GOALs AND OBJECTIVES

This report is an updated and expanded version of an earlier (2009) BCC Research analysis of U.S. and global markets for MRCAS equipment. The updated report is based on the most recent market information available, and analyzes technological, economic, and regulatory developments that may have a long-term impact on the size and structure of the MRCAS market. The new report also contains a more in-depth and detailed analysis of selected foreign markets than its predecessor.