Vancouver, BC -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/15/2017 --According to a new series of reports on the Japan market for interventional cardiology devices by iData Research (www.idataresearch.com), hospitals in the country tend to gravitate towards expensive and technologically advanced devices. However, the high-cost of imaging devices like optical coherence tomography (OCT) catheters and fractional flow reserve (FFR) guidewires is limiting the market adoption.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheters are widely accepted in Japan and are used in more than 90% of all percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures, other devices such as OCT and FFR are threats to this market. Although prices for OCT catheters have decreased over the last several years, these devices are still substantially more expensive when compared to standard diagnostic coronary catheters. As a result, IVUS continues to dominate the market and are used in hospitals as well as most medical programs in Japan. Changes in pricing and reimbursement for these alternative devices can adversely affect the IVUS market in the future.

"The development and expansion of computerized diagnostic techniques has exerted a downward pressure on procedure numbers, resulting in procedural declines in recent years," explains Jeffrey Wong, Strategic Analyst Manager at iData Research. "For a while now, conventional angiographies have been replaced by alternative imaging procedures. Furthermore, the rate of replacement has gradually increased due to technology advancement."

Lack of growth across the entire interventional cardiology market is largely offset by growth in the IVUS catheter market. Overall angioplasty and angiography procedures have been stagnant over the last few years. However, these specialized devices will continue to grow as physicians look for alternate devices to reduce cost and improve efficiency of operations.

Abbott Vascular is the leading competitor in the Japanese interventional cardiology market. The company has majority market shares in the coronary stent, coronary guidewire, coronary vascular closure device, FFR guidewire and OCT catheter markets. Abbott's OCT products, which it recently acquired from St. Jude Medical, including the C7-XR™ coronary imaging system and C7 Dragonfly™ imaging catheter are market leading devices in Japan in 2017.

Boston Scientific is the second leading competitor in the Japanese interventional cardiology market. The company dominated the interventional cardiology market as a result of its market share in the IVUS catheter market. Boston Scientific's most recently released IVUS catheter, the iCross™ is based on their previous catheter technology but with numerous design changes to improve device 'pushability' and kink resistance. Additional competitors in the interventional cardiology market include Terumo, Medtronic, Philips Volcano, Goodman Co., Cardinal Health, Nipro/InfraReDx and Asahi among others.

More on the interventional cardiology device market in Japan can be found in a series of reports published by iData Research entitled the Japan Market Report Suite for Interventional Cardiology Devices 2018. The full report suite on the Japanese market for interventional cardiology includes analysis on the coronary stent, coronary balloon catheter, balloon-inflation device, interventional coronary catheter, interventional coronary guidewire, introducer sheath, coronary vascular closure device, diagnostic coronary catheter and guidewire, fractional flow reserve (FFR) guidewire, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) catheter markets.

The iData report series on interventional cardiology devices covers the U.S., Japan and 15 countries in Europe including Germany, France, the United Kingdom (U.K.), Italy, Spain, Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), Scandinavia (Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway), Portugal, Austria and Switzerland. Reports provide a comprehensive analysis including units sold, market value, forecasts, as well as detailed competitive market shares and analysis of major players' success strategies in each market and segment. To find out more about interventional cardiology market and procedure data, register online or email us at info@idataresearch.net for a Japan Market Report Suite for Interventional Cardiology Devices 2018 brochure and synopsis.

About iData Research
iData Research (www.idataresearch.com) is an international market research and consulting firm, dedicated to providing the best in business intelligence for the medical device industry. Our research empowers our clients by providing them with the necessary tools to achieve their goals and do it right the first time. iData covers research in: Interventional Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Cardiac Rhythm Management, Electrophysiology, Spinal Implants and VCF, Spinal MIS, Orthopedic Trauma, Large & Small Joints, Orthopedic Soft Tissue, Orthopedic Biomaterials, Orthopedic Soft Tissue Reinforcement and Regeneration, Wound Management, Dental Operatory Equipment, Dental Material, Dental Lasers, Dental Prosthetics, Dental CAD/CAM, Dental Bone Graft Substitutes, Ultrasound, X-Ray Imaging, Diagnostic Imaging, Oncology, Ophthalmics, Vascular Access, Laparoscopy, Urology, Gynecology, Endoscopy, Operating Room Equipment, Surgical Microscopes, Robotics and Surgical Navigation, Anesthesiology and more.

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