CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pulmonary disease remains one of the major untapped medical device opportunities in the U.S. Not only are most of the diagnostic technologies employed underutilized, but treatment options have been limited. Sleep apnea was the first pulmonary disease to demonstrate the market potential of pulmonary devices, and its potential is far from peaking. Emerging minimally invasive and interventional therapies for asthma and COPD are preparing to drive similar, significant growth as they improve outcomes for drug-refractory patients and stimulate diagnostic testing. Finally, new technologies are expected to enable screening and, hence, earlier diagnosis and characterization of a full range of pulmonary diseases, further expanding caseloads. The result of these synergistic trends will be a two-fold increase in sales of pulmonary devices to more than $3 billion in 2011, which will represent only partial realization of the potential of this important market.
