Klein Report Shows Hand-Carried Ultrasound Global Revenues Grew 42 Percent in 2007 to $565 Million

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - March 4, 2008) - The second annual hand-carried ultrasound (HCU) report issued by Klein Biomedical Consultants (KBC), the industry's leading analyst, indicates global revenues for HCU systems grew by 42 percent in 2007 to $565 Million. The recently published The U.S. Market for Hand Carried/Handheld Ultrasound Systems: Challenges & Opportunities - 2007 Report shows GE Healthcare became the undisputed leader in worldwide HCU revenues, growing 50 percent to $250 million for the year. Along with GE, Klein continues to project the market leaders in 2010 will be SonoSite and ZONARE Medical Systems which grew 22 and 60 percent respectively during 2007.

"It continued to be a robust year for HCU system sales which is still by far the fastest growing market segment in ultrasound," said Harvey Klein, PhD, president of KBC. "The three leading HCU companies alone accounted for more than 85 percent of overall revenues. We especially saw strong international sales of 49 percent and solid U.S. growth of 33 percent led by these three vendors."

For the purpose of this report, HCU systems are considered to weigh less than 11 pounds. Included in this category are products from Bard, GE, Medison, Siemens, SonoSite, Terason and others. Also included was the ZONARE z.one system, which is characterized as a convertible system, since it can be separated from the cart and used as a hand-carried device. The report excluded service and veterinary care revenues. Klein reported the U.S. continued to be the largest single market at $239 million for the year where SonoSite maintained its lead position.

"The five largest HCU markets in the U.S. were cardiology, emergency medicine, radiology, anesthesiology and OB/GYN," said Klein. "These markets accounted for 60 percent of the U.S. market. Ten new HCU products were shipped in the U.S. market during the year, including the first pocket-sized device from Siemens. This is the most in any single year."

Klein predicts the worldwide market will grow to $1.2 billion in the next five years with double digit growth during this time period.

"The HCU market should remain dynamic over the next five years as clinicians face increasing demand for portable ultrasound exams," said Klein. "We believe the growth rate for HCU will be approximately 20 percent in the U.S. and 15 percent internationally over this time period with an average of 17 percent worldwide. This should make the HCU market the driving segment for increasing global ultrasound revenues overall."

About Klein Biomedical Consultants, Inc.

Klein Biomedical Consultants (KBC) is a strategic marketing consulting firm specializing in the medical diagnostic imaging field. KBC has provided marketing and technical guidance to well over 100 corporations over its twenty-five year history. It is recognized as an authority on the medical diagnostic ultrasound industry. KBC is known for its series of comprehensive multi-client ultrasound market studies. Since 1981, thirty-two major reports have been published, including three studies of the ultrasound contrast agent market. KBC's list of clients includes virtually every leading ultrasound equipment manufacturer in the world. These manufacturers account for an estimated 90% of the nearly $4 billion worldwide ultrasound equipment market.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Harvey G. Klein, Ph.D. President Klein Biomedical Consultants, Inc. Tel: 212/362-0579 Mobile: 917/952-4871