European Intravascular Ultrasound Catheter and Pressure Guidewire Market to Grow at Nine Percent Per Year Through 2015

Growth Stimulated by New European Society of Cardiology Recommendations on Pressure Guidewires, According to Millennium Research Group

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, the results of the recent FAME clinical trial have led the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) to list FFR guidewires, also called pressure guidewires, as a Class 1A recommendation, the highest available. This is expected to result in a robust average annual nine percent growth in the market for these guidewires through 2015.

“An economic analysis of the FAME results also found notable cost savings associated with use of FFR guidewires”

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) guidewires are used in procedures to measure blood flow through a cardiac lesion so that physicians can assess the extent of ischemia and decide whether a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is indicated. The devices are now backed by convincing clinical data from the FAME trial that showed that many such lesions are unnecessarily stented based on diagnostic angiography assessment alone. PCI volumes are expected to increase and FFR guidewires are expected to be used in a larger proportion of these procedures.

“An economic analysis of the FAME results also found notable cost savings associated with use of FFR guidewires,” said MRG Analyst Cale Dann. “These results will benefit the only two competitors in this market, Volcano and St. Jude Medical. Industry sources indicate that while St. Jude Medical’s PressureWire Certus and the PressureWire Aeris are superior compared to Volcano’s FFR guidewires, the latter company has the advantage of being able to offer an FFR guidewire that is on an integrated platform with IVUS technology, making it convenient for physicians.”

FFR guidewires will be most readily adopted in Spain and the Nordic region owing to robust reimbursement and influential key opinion leaders. Belgium and the Netherlands have already seen significant adoption which will continue through 2015.

Although FFR adoption will contribute to the stabilization of stenting volumes throughout the region, drug-eluting stent penetration will continue to increase as sales recover from the late-stent thrombosis scare of 2006 and 2007.

Millennium Research Group’s European Markets for Interventional Cardiology Devices 2011 (Part 2) report includes procedure, unit, average selling price and revenue information for coronary stents, PTCA balloon catheters, accessory devices and intravascular imaging catheters and pressure guidewires in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland

About Millennium Research Group

Millennium Research Group (www.MRG.net), a Decision Resources, Inc. company (www.DecisionResourcesInc.com), is the global authority on medical technology market intelligence and the leading provider of strategic information to the healthcare sector. The company provides specialized industry expertise through multiclient market research, ongoing Marketrack™ projects, customer loyalty tracking, facility-level procedure forecasting, and customized solutions.

About Decision Resources, Inc.

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