TORONTO, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ — According to Millennium
Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology
market intelligence, Latin American physicians will increasingly
adopt abdominal and thoracic endovascular aortic repair in place of
surgical repair through 2015 as awareness of the benefits of
endovascular techniques grows and physician training improves.
Thoracic endovascular aortic repair tends to be a slightly more
attractive option for physicians and patients because the
alternative open surgical procedure is associated with significant
mortality, complications, and longer hospital stays. Conversely,
newer thoracic aortic stent grafts incorporate features that add to
their versatility in treating a variety of thoracic aortic
conditions, including aneurysms and dissections. These features
include improved deliverability and reliability of stent graft
placement, which make it easier for physicians to treat a diverse
patient population. Abdominal endovascular aortic repair, in
contrast, will face more competition from surgical options because
the latter is not quite as risky in the abdominal aorta compared to
in the thoracic aortic. As a result, surgical repair of the
abdominal aorta will continue to be preferred in some centers due
to the high cost of aortic stent grafts. Although budget
constraints among Latin American health care facilities will remain
a limiting factor, the aortic stent graft market is set to expand
to more than $150 million by 2015.
“Mexico, in particular, has traditionally experienced lower
stent graft penetration rates compared to other Latin American
countries due to its slow device approval process,” says Fareed
Hameed, Analyst at MRG. “Because device approval has lagged
behind some other regions, physician training on endovascular
repair procedures has also been lower; however, even Mexico will
see growth in aortic stent graft procedures of approximately 15%
per year through 2015
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