TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, demographic trends and increased acceptance of orthopedic biomaterials in Europe will lead to moderate growth in this market to a total of more than $370 million in 2017.

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The bone graft substitute (BGS) segment will expand due to increasing product penetration and heightening surgeon awareness of the available alternatives to autografts. In the past, autografts have been the standard of care among European surgeons for promoting bone growth. Persisting drawbacks, such as additional pain and stress caused by the autograft harvesting surgery as well as the poor quality of bone among older patients has led to greater adoption of BGS for numerous orthopedic applications, particularly among younger physicians. BGS unit sales will continue to increase faster than the rate of orthopedic surgical interventions in Europe, as these materials are adopted over autografts at heightened rates in spinal fusion and joint reconstruction procedures in particular.

In contrast to the BGS segment, growth in the hyaluronic acid (HA) viscosupplementation segment will be severely impeded for the next several years by the European economic crisis, which has caused reimbursements to decline. These treatments are elective and are being covered by insurance less and less. These factors, coupled with restricted personal spending on healthcare, will further limit growth. The slowdown in treatment volume growth will be counteracted to some degree by the growing adoption of premium-priced single-injection products through 2017. This shift to single-injection products has been encouraged by the fact that both patients and physicians increasingly prefer treatments with fewer injections. Patients enjoy the convenience, while physicians can treat a higher volume of patients. Increasing adoption will have a positive effect on selling prices and thus revenues.

"While HA viscosupplementation is most commonly administered in the knee joint, physicians continue to expand the number of treatments performed on other joints, recognizing a growing need for low-cost alternatives to joint replacement surgery for pain management," said MRG Analyst Kyle Verleyen. "The entrance of smaller, specialized 'mini' products has contributed to this trend as these products are typically indicated for areas of the anatomy outside of the knee. Also, single-injection products have proved advantageous in joints such as the hip, due to the invasive nature of this type of procedure."

Millennium Research Group's European Markets for Orthopedic Biomaterials 2013 report includes unit, average selling price and revenue information, along with market drivers and limiters and competitive landscape for bone graft substitutes and HA viscosupplementation in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

About Millennium Research Group
Millennium Research Group (www.MRG.net), a Decision Resources Group company (www.DecisionResourcesGroup.com), is the global authority on medical technology market intelligence and the leading provider of strategic information to the healthcare sector. The company provides specialized industry expertise through multiclient market research, ongoing Marketrack™ projects, customer loyalty tracking, facility-level procedure forecasting, and customized solutions.

About Decision Resources Group
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SOURCE Millennium Research Group