The output frequency of the plasma knife is lower than that of the high-frequency electric knife, generally 100kHz, which can achieve fine cutting, tissue ablation, and protect surrounding tissues. It is mainly used in ENT, sports medicine, spinal surgery, and urology. It has been used in clinical practice in China since 2000. Since then, soft tissue cutting has gradually shifted from radio frequency high temperature to low temperature and safety.
In 2021, the scale of China's plasma knife market will be 7.65 billion yuan, with an annual compound growth rate of 19.9% from 2018 to 2021. It is estimated that the scale of the domestic plasma knife market will reach 17.72 billion yuan in 2025, with an annual compound growth rate of 23.4% from 2021 to 2025.
At present, the winning bid price of a domestic plasma surgery system plus consumables is about RMB 200,000, and the price of foreign brands is slightly higher-about 300,000. According to this estimate, excluding the integrated energy platform, the Chinese market capacity of pure plasma surgical instruments (host + consumables) is about RMB 1.3 billion/year, of which the host is about RMB 300 million/year and the consumables (knife head) is about RMB 1 billion/year, which is a relatively small market segment in the medical device industry.
1. Growth trend and popular departments
Orthopedics
Taking spinal surgery as an example, minimally invasive surgery in China's spinal surgery has developed rapidly, with more than 900,000 surgeries in 2019, an increase of 12% over 2018. Plasma knives are particularly suitable for minimally invasive spinal surgeries with complex anatomical structures and narrow operating spaces. Their usage rate has increased rapidly with the price reduction of centralized procurement, gradually replacing traditional bone knives. From the market point of view, entering centralized procurement means stable technology, but also loses benefits. Equipment manufacturers try to make breakthroughs in new departments.
Sports Medicine
Sports medicine in my country is in the early stage of rapid growth. In 2018, the number of surgeries nationwide was about 850,000, while in 2019 it exceeded 1 million. It is expected that by 2025, the annual number of surgeries will maintain a growth rate of about 20%. At present, 60%-70% of sports medicine surgeries in China are still concentrated in tertiary hospitals. The National Health Commission requires each tertiary hospital to set up a sports medicine specialty and position it as a secondary discipline. In the future, with the vigorous development of sports medicine in China, more cities and hospitals will promote sports medicine specialties, and the number of related surgeries will increase rapidly. Therefore, as an indispensable tool in arthroscopic surgery, plasma knives have huge growth potential.
New Development
Plasma surgery extends to departments such as gynecology, medical beauty, thoracic surgery, ophthalmology, pediatrics, and anorectal surgery. Low-temperature plasma radiofrequency ablation technology has been widely used in the fields of thyroid, breast cysts, solid nodules with a diameter of 3-5cm, multiple and large cysts in the liver, primary liver cancer, metastatic liver cancer, and small lung nodules. In ophthalmology, plasma knives are currently mainly used for the removal of pterygium; in gynecological surgery, the main surgical procedure for plasma knives is hysteroscopic surgery, such as the treatment of endometrial polyps, thickening, uterine submucosal fibroids, intrauterine adhesions and other diseases. As medical device companies continue to explore the clinical needs of new departments and develop corresponding equipment products, the market size of plasma knives will grow rapidly in the future.
2. Development Direction of Key Technologies
The application of plasma radio frequency technology in medicine is relatively mature. It can be combined with imaging systems, endoscopes and navigation technologies for minimally invasive surgery, greatly improving the patient's diagnosis and treatment experience. At the same time, plasma knives are also developing in a more intelligent and minimally invasive direction. For example, some plasma knives have digital power control management functions, which can formulate different treatment parameters according to the specific conditions of patients, adopt personalized treatment methods, and realize full digital temperature control. In addition, intelligent plasma knives can also be used in conjunction with surgical robots to achieve more precise operations and less trauma.
Integrated energy platforms are the current research and development trend. For energy surgical instrument companies, platforms integrating multiple energies such as ultrasound and radio frequency have become the main direction of research and development, which can not only meet the needs of doctors to use multiple energy instruments during surgery, but also save the hospital's procurement expenses. Most experts said that most of the surgical departments of my country's tertiary hospitals tend to choose integrated energy platforms, and only the otolaryngology or urology departments that use more plasma knives will configure plasma surgical systems separately.
Develop specific plasma knife heads for different surgical needs. Due to the differences in the physiological structure of different parts of the human body, the demand for plasma knives is also different. For example, some surgeries may require thinner, more bendable, and better attracting plasma knife heads. In order to give full play to the advantages of plasma knives, domestic companies have begun to cooperate with clinical experts to develop products for subdivided departments, and it is expected to further expand the domestic plasma knife market.
3. Summary and Outlook
With the continuous development of science and technology, plasma technology will continue to be improved and innovated, and new plasma sources, more efficient plasma combustion technologies, and methods for real-time monitoring and control of plasma parameters will continue to emerge.
The development of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things will promote the embedding of plasma technology into intelligent equipment and systems, realize automated control, intelligent perception and data analysis, and improve production efficiency and quality. AI-assisted surgery will become possible, providing doctors with more accurate and personalized surgical plans.
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