Virtual Reality Technology Finds Ready and Willing Market in Healthcare

New York, October 23, 2007 — Video games it is not. Yet its success is none-the-less impressive. Healthcare virtual reality (VR) applications have experienced double-digit growth both worldwide and in the U.S. since the turn of the century, and the 2010 U.S. market for virtual reality in surgery, medical education, therapy and other areas will grow to $290 million, according to Virtual Reality Market in the US Healthcare Sector: Markets for Remote Surgery, 3D Modeling, Pain Distraction and Other Applications, a new report from life science research firm Kalorama Information.

Long the driving force in the entertainment, gaming and engineering industries, virtual reality applications have revolutionized the global healthcare industry. More accurate and sophisticated than conventional two-dimensional scans, VR applications provide opportunities to perform medical tasks in a risk-free environment and make training assessable to large numbers of students. Additionally, VR simulators allow medical professionals to remain up-to-date on the latest technical procedures required in their profession.

Current VR applications assist in numerous modalities from pre-operative planning and robot-assisted surgery to medical curricula to teach anatomy of body parts and the visualization of medical data that can be integrated and simulated into 3D models to gather insights into the cause and effects of injuries. VR is even finding uses in therapeutics for pain and depression to replace or reduce pharmaceutical usage in these cases.

“While still at a very nascent stage of commercialization, VR technologies are being widely used by the Department of Defense, medical schools and hospitals, and manufacturers of medical equipment on a variety of levels with significant benefit,” notes Steven Heffner, Executive Publisher of Kalorama Information. “The establishment of industry standards should lead to rapid commercialization of products, and ongoing technological advancements will only further the market, particularly in the surgery segment.”

Virtual Reality Market in the US Healthcare Sector provides a comprehensive look at the current U.S. market for VR applications including growth factors and trends, forecasts, and a demand-side analysis demonstrating the drivers for VR applications. It can be purchased directly from Kalorama Information by visiting http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Virtual-Reality-Applications-1514009. It is also available at MarketResearch.com.

About Kalorama Information
Kalorama Information supplies the latest in independent market research for the life sciences. For more information, contact Tom Ehart at 240-747-3014 or tehart@marketresearch.com, or visit www.KaloramaInformation.com.