根據一項最新報告，美國超聲市場占了世界總市場的約30%，在2006年打破了13.3億美圓的記錄。

此項報告是由Klein生物醫學咨詢公司（美國紐約）發布的。該公司是一家市場調查公司，調查結果表明，雖然預算上調了5.3%，升級方面下降了23%，造成市場只增長了2.6%，然而心臟超聲市場第一次在2006年超過了放射超聲包括升級后的收入。

“心臟超聲產品收入上升了11%，其他三個傳統市場---放射學、Ob/Gyn以及血管手術變化得很小。”KBC總裁Harvey Klein說。傳統市場產品銷售占了整個市場的60%，而新開發的產品占了40%。新開發產品的市場增長速度是總體收入增長水平的2倍。這主要是對便攜式超聲設備的需求。這個市場增長了30%。

根據報告，整個美國市場的領導者是荷蘭飛利普醫療系統公司，之后是英國通用電氣（GE）、德國西門子公司和美國SonoSite公司。如果按收入單獨來計算，GE是世界第一，之后是飛利普公司。Philips iE33心超系統成為2006年美國市場銷售最好的產品。

美國超聲市場預計以每年5.8%的速率增長在2011年達到17.6億美圓。KBC公司相信傳統市場將以少于3%的速率緩慢增長。KBC預計到2009年收入最多的公司將會依次為GE、Philips醫療、西門子和SonoSite，和2006年的結果一樣。

國際市場仍是重中之重，占了整個市場的70%。KBC估計世界整個超聲產品銷售額從2005年的39億美圓到2005年的41億美圓，排除了升級和售后服務的支出。世界范圍內按實力排名依次為GE、Philips醫療公司、西門子和日本東芝。

KBC生物醫療咨詢公司是一家市場統計咨詢公司專門從事醫療診斷圖像領域的調查工作。


U.S. Ultrasound Market Hits All-Time High 
       
The U.S. ultrasound market, accounting for approximately 30% of the worldwide market, hit a record US$1.33 billion in 2006, according to a recent report. 
The report, published by Klein Biomedical Consultants, Inc. (KBC; New York, NY, USA), a market consulting company, stated that although product revenues rose a respectable 5.3%, a 23% decrease in upgrades reduced the overall market growth to only 2.6%. The cardiology ultrasound market segment surpassed total radiology ultrasound revenues including upgrades for the first time in 2006. 

hile cardiology ultrasound product revenues grew over 11%, the other three traditional markets--radiology, Ob/Gyn, and vascular surgery--showed little, if any change,?said Harvey Klein, Ph.D., KBC president. raditional markets accounted for 60% of total product sales growth in 2006 while emerging markets contributed the remaining 40%. The emerging markets grew twice as fast as the overall ultrasound market in product revenues. his resulted from strong demand for hand-carried ultrasound [HCU] systems, a market that grew 30%.

Klein reported that the leaders in the overall market, including upgrades, were Philips Medical Systems (Best, The Netherlands), followed by GE Healthcare Chalfont (St. Giles, UK), Siemens Medical Solutions (Erlangen, Germany), and SonoSite (Bothell, WA, USA). In product revenues alone, however, GE was the market leader followed by Philips. The Philips?iE33 echocardiography system became the top-selling product in the U.S. market in the year 2006. 

The ultrasound market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.8% and reach $1.76 billion by 2011. While KBC believes traditional markets will grow slowly at a rate of less than 3%, emerging markets, although considerably smaller, will grow over 16%. KBC predicts the market leaders in product revenues in 2009 will be, in order, Healthcare, Philips Medical Systems, Siemens Medical Solutions, and SonoSite, the same order as in 2006. 

The importance of the international market is highlighted by the fact that it still accounts for approximately 70% of the worldwide market. KBC estimates overall worldwide ultrasound product sales grew from $3.9 billion in 2005 to $4.1 billion in 2006, excluding upgrades and service revenues. This represents a 6.7% growth, which was helped slightly by favorable currency exchange rates. Worldwide ultrasound market leaders were, in order, GE Healthcare, Philips Medical Systems, Siemens Medical Solutions, and Toshiba (Tokyo, Japan). 

Klein Biomedical Consultants (KBC) is a strategic marketing consulting firm specializing in the medical diagnostic imaging field.