January 14, 2008 – The current global market for Optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems is currently around $200 million and growing at an annual rate of 34 percent and is expected to continue at this pace for the next several years, with revenues topping $800 million by 2012, according to Optical Coherence Tomography -- Technology, Markets and Applications: 2008-2012, a new market research report from the publishers of BioOptics World.
OCT is an imaging modality that was invented at MIT in the early 1990s and first commercialized for medical imaging applications by Carl Zeiss in 1996, OCT offers the promise of fast, high-resolution diagnostic images for a variety of clinical applications.
While the first commercial application of OCT ophthalmology should remain the dominant application through 2012, new applications and products are emerging in cardiology, dentistry, cancer detection, glucose monitoring and dermatology. In particular, commercial activity for OCT in intravascular imaging has been gaining momentum over the past 12 months, and this sector looks to be the next growth market for OCT technologies.
At least 18 companies are actively developing and/or manufacturing OCT systems, with many more supplying the key optical sources, detectors and related photonics components that enable the various OCT products and applications. As this technology continues to penetrate new markets, opportunities exist for photonics companies in optical sources, detection and delivery systems.
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