Demand for Innovative and Efficient Surgical Systems Drives the Global Market for Virtual Reality in Healthcare, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

San Jose, California (PRWEB) July 06, 2012

Follow us on LinkedIn Despite being in the nascent stages of commercialization, Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the lucrative and the most promising development areas in the medical domain. The growing adoption of VR applications is based on the need to enhance training methods, reduce costs, and provide risk-free medical procedures. Rapid evolution of graphics hardware, database gloves, computer aided design (CAD), and miniaturization represents some of the factors which have aided in the growing adoption of VR technologies in the healthcare sector. Presently, surgical assistance equipment, along with education and training devices, constitutes the major contributors of the market. In the upcoming years, virtual realitys huge prospects in the healthcare industry is expected to be centered upon products and services, such as education and training, robot-assisted surgery, rehabilitation and therapy, as well as medical data visualization. Despite being in the nascent stages of adoption and marred with limitations and concerns regarding the implementation in medical arena, VR technology is being used to develop numerous innovative and efficient surgical systems. The increasing significance of VR systems is mainly due to the plummeting costs, persistent improvements in performance reliability, and several valuable economic advantages in various forms, including simulation, design, and training.

Pressure from the economic recession, which severely impacted most industrial sectors forced growth to slow down in the healthcare industry as well, which was once widely opined to be recession resilient. With most surgical systems and equipment being capital heavy investments, tight liquidity, lack of credit availability, capital shortages, and high borrowing rates, triggered by the recent recession, forced hospitals and healthcare facilities to reduce capital expenditures on new equipment. However, a quick and sharp recovery post recession period is bringing back cheer to the marketplace. Growing popularity of endoscopic surgical techniques, simulation trading tools, and computer assisted or robotic systems are proving to be extremely beneficial for the future growth of VR in the healthcare industry.

Despite the positive outlook, certain major technological hurdles are to be overcome for successful commercialization of advanced products. Major challenges include offering sophisticated products with enhanced potential in soft tissue modeling, augmented reality, real-time functionality, data management, and inter-device communication. Other factors influencing the commercialization of VR technologies include challenges in technology integration into a conventional conservative medical community, evaluation of clinical effectiveness, development of standards, and encouraging legal as well as regulatory climate.

As stated by the new market research report on Virtual Reality in Healthcare, the US continues to remain a major market worldwide. Over the years, the usage of virtual reality (VR) technologies in the US healthcare sector witnessed tremendous increase, driven by the growing implementation of healthcare technologies, and widespread research undertaken for product development. Once considered a niche market for specialized applications, VR technologies are presently spreading its wings across a broad range of healthcare activities, spanning from integrating VR technology into clinical information systems to designing treatment programs for soldiers. Subsequently, the region has transformed into opportunity generator for OEMs, medical software developers, as well as research and development companies. Increased activity in the marketplace can be gauged by the fact that companies providing VR technologies for other sectors, such as gaming and aviation, are showing alleviated level of interest towards utilizing VR technology for the development of innovative systems for the healthcare industry. However, with increasing importance of VR systems, several companies from outside the US are entering the VR market.

Major players in the marketplace include Brainlab AG, CAE Healthcare, Fifth Dimension Technologies Inc., GE Healthcare, Intuitive Surgical Inc., Medtronic Inc., Philips Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Stryker Corporation, Surgical Science Sweden AB, Vital Images Inc., Virtually Better Inc., among others.

The research report titled “Virtual Reality (VR) in Healthcare: A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a comprehensive review of the virtual reality market in healthcare sector, growth drivers, market challenges, key trends and issues, technology overview, recent product innovations, strategic corporate deals, and profiles of major and niche global and regional players. The report provides annual sales estimates and projections for the years 2010 through 2018 for the following geographic markets – US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of World. The study also provides historic data for an insight into market evolution over the period 2004 through 2009.

For more details about this comprehensive market research report, please visit

http://www.strategyr.com/Virtual_Reality_VR_in_Healthcare_Market_Report.asp

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (GIA) is a leading publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Founded in 1987, the company currently employs over 800 people worldwide. Annually, GIA publishes more than 1300 full-scale research reports and analyzes 40,000+ market and technology trends while monitoring more than 126,000 Companies worldwide. Serving over 9500 clients in 27 countries, GIA is recognized today, as one of the world’s largest and reputed market research firms.

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Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Telephone: 408-528-9966

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