The surgical energy instruments market has grown by 5% between 2015 and 2021 and is projected to continue to grow at a similar rate until the end of the decade, driven by events such as World Cancer Day, which is intended to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its early detection and treatment, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that over 16.3 million people will die from the disease globally by 2040, which is over 60% of the approximately 10 million deaths this year. Therefore, early detection and treatment of cancer using pharmaceutical or surgical options is critical to improving recovery rates.

Brian Hicks, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Depending on the cancer type and their respective stages, treatment modalities will differ. Often, when cancers are detected late and have already metastasized, aggressive pharmaceutical treatment options like chemotherapy are recommended. However, if detected early enough such that tumours are still localized in one area, they are often surgically removed along with parts of or even the entire organ on which they grew.”

Common medical devices used for surgically removing such tumours include laparoscopes and surgical energy instruments, where the former is used to access and visualize the abdominal cavity in a minimally invasive manner, and the latter makes use of high-frequency electrical currents to coagulate, cut, desiccate, fulgurate, ablate, and shrink tumours and tissues. While these devices are frequently used to treat non-cancerous indications as well, they are critical in ensuring that the localized tumours are removed in a safe and minimally invasive manner.

Hicks adds: “Many different types of surgical energy instruments are on the market; however, the most frequently used ones are monopolar and bipolar instruments, such as Johnson & Johnson’s MEGADYNE and Medtronic’s LigaSure product lines.”

According to GlobalData, the market for these types of instruments have historically grown at a steady rate and is forecast to reach $4.0 billion by 2030. While these types of instruments will continue to dominate the overall surgical energy instruments market due to surgeons’ familiarity and relatively affordable price points, the smaller alternative energy instruments market is forecast to grow at remarkable rates as well.

Hicks concludes: “The underlying technologies of alternative energy instruments is quite interesting, examples of which include argon plasma, cryoablation, microwave antenna, and irreversible electroporation instruments. Our analysis of this market segment indicates that significantly more of these devices will be adopted in surgical treatments of both cancerous and non-cancerous indications in the upcoming years, given their own sets of technical advantages over the traditional energy instruments.”