PET scan volumes to rise by 6% to 7% this year

Market research firm IMV predicts that the volume of clinical PET scans to rise by 6% to 7% again in 2020, a rate of growth that has been consistent since 2013, according to IMV’s 2020 PET Imaging Market Summary Report, as reported in HealthCareBusiness News.

“The development of PET/CT scanners has further increased adoption of the modality since the early 2000s, with an estimated 2,370 sites performing PET scans in the U.S. Sixty percent of these sites use fixed PET imaging units, including PET-only, PET/CT and PET/MR scanners, while the other 40% use mobile PET services that stop at their facilities for several days each month. Such sites are slow to adopt fixed units on account of reimbursements and the relatively “stable” market for oncology scans. Adopting, however, would not increase but steal volume from other providers, according to the report.

“Further driving the market is the volume of PET cardiology scans, which have more than doubled between 2014 and 2019. These procedures, however, make up only 8% of the total PET scans performed in 2019, and only 11% of sites currently perform cardiology PET scans, primarily for myocardial perfusion. In contrast, neurology scans constituted only three percent of PET scan volume in 2019 despite being performed by a higher 38% of PET sites, mainly for patients with suspected Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.”