Rising Cancer Prevalence Driving Nuclear Imaging Equipment Market

Across the globe, the population of the elderly is increasing at a high rate. The United Nations, in its latest World Population Ageing report, estimated that 703 million people on earth were more than 65 years old in 2019, and that their population will touch 1.5 billion by 2050. 

Single-positron emission computed tomography (SPECT), hybrid positron emission tomography (PET), and planar scintigraphy are the various nuclear imaging techniques. Among these, the highest demand in the past has been for SPECT scanners, as they are widely used to asses the severity of brain injury, where CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have certain limitations, especially in detecting the flow of blood in the veins and arteries. In the coming years, hybrid PET systems are expected to witness the most rapidly increasing demand.

Across the world, North America has been the largest user of nuclear imaging, as it accounts for extremely high cancer and cardiovascular disease rates. As such technologies are helpful in seeing the blood flow, they are being rapidly used for heart diseases. Further, the continent is the first to embrace advanced technology, which further leads to its dominance on the industry. In the coming years, the nuclear imaging equipment market growth would be the fastest in Asia-Pacific (APAC), on account of the growing geriatric population and cardiovascular, oncological, and neurological disease incidence.

Thus, with the increasing incidence of various diseases and the need for effective diagnosis, the procurement rate of nuclear imaging scanners would also rise across the world.