Global Medical Radiation Shielding Market Size

Medical Radiation Shielding Market Analysis

The medical radiation shielding market studied is anticipated to witness a CAGR of nearly 4.6%, during the forecast period.

During the COVID-19 crisis, non-urgent clinical treatments were postponed until the situation eased, and the hospital was preoccupied with patient care. Many steps have been put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, causing severe operational interruption for many businesses, particularly those in the healthcare field. Companies have faced major challenges as a result of employee quarantine, supply-chain failures, and demand cutbacks. In-patient and out-patient visits for private hospital chains have also decreased significantly. As a result, the medical radiation shielding market suffers. The decrease in imaging volumes during the pandemic affected the growth pace of the market. For instance, the Journal of American College of Radiology article titled 'Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Imaging Case Volumes' published in May 2020 reported that the total imaging volume in 2020 declined by 12.29% compared with 2019. It also reported that Post-COVID-19 revealed a greater decrease (28.10%) in imaging volumes across all patient service locations. The same source also reported that an 88% decline was seen at week 16 in outpatient imaging, and X-rays contributed to a nearly 22% decline. Such a decline in volumes due to pandemics also affects the market's growth.

Certain factors driving the market growth include increasing usage of nuclear medicine and radiation therapy for diagnosis and treatment, rising incidences of chronic diseases including cancer, and growing safety awareness among people working in radiation-prone environments. According to GLOBOCAN 2020, the new cancer cases that were diagnosed accounted for 19,292,789 in 2020 globally, with 9,958,133 deaths due to cancer. Moreover, as per the same source, among all cancers, breast cancer accounted for 2,261,419 new cancer cases, followed by lung cancer with 2,206,771 new cases, prostate cancer with 1,414,259, and colon cancer with 1,148,515 new cases in 2020. This global and extensive threat of cancer remains a major market driver for new cancer therapies that help in risk assessment, early diagnosis, and effective monitoring of the treatment.Additionally, according to data published by the United Nations, in February 2021, about 1 billion people, nearly one in six of the world's population, suffer from neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, strokes, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy migraine, brain injuries, and neuro infections in 2020. Additionally, as per the same source 62 million suffered from cerebrovascular disease, 50 million people suffered from epilepsy, 326 million from migraine, and 24 million from Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in 2020. Thus, growing incidence of chronic diseases expected to boost the market growth over the forecast period.

Moreover, according to the study published in June 2021, titled "Lifesaving nuclear medicine applications deserve better recognition and support at EU level" every year, more than 9 million patients in Europe benefit from nuclear medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological problems. Thus, increased usage of nuclear medicine is expected to expand the market growth over the forecast period.

Thus, all the above-mentioned factors are expected to boost the market growth over the forecast period. However, the high cost of radiation shielding and lack of awareness among healthcare professionals may restrain the market growth.