Industry Insights
Global inhalation anesthesia market size was valued at USD 1.2 billion in 2014. Key growth factors include rapid increase in aging population suffering from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer, neurological and other health ailments such as gastro, orthopedic and spinal problems.
Increasing prevalence of cataract is also a factor contributing towards the growth of the day care ambulatory surgeries industry. This is further expected to boost the usage rates of inhalation anesthesia over the forecast period. Growth in the in number of emergency cases and accidents are also expected to positively reinforce inhalation anesthesia market growth.
Anesthesia recycling is expected to play a significant role in shaping the dynamics of this industry. Growth in demand for recycling is accounted for by the intensifying regulations pertaining to the effect of these products on the environment.
Globally, these anesthetic gases contribute up to 1.0% of carbon dioxide thereby, causing greater environmental damage. A major concern in using these gases, is that patient-use accounts for only 5.0%. The rest 95.0% is released into the atmosphere resulting in phenomenon like global warming.
To address the environmental impact of anesthetic gases, new technologies are being developed to scavenge the anesthetic gases from hospital vents and recycle them. Recycling systems are currently being developed by two companies namely Anesthesia reclamation LLC, and Deltasorb Technologies (Blue Zone Technology).
Anesthesia reclamation LLC has developed Anesthetic Recapture System, which is a cryogenic condensing system used to collect waste products from the operating rooms. Deltasorb has developed Blue Zone technology which uses absorption, condensation and decondesation and distillation procedure to effectively recycle the anesthetic agents and make them suitable for re-use.
In 2014, Blue zone technology was installed in 21 hospitals in Canada and is negotiating with various stake holders to increase the penetration of these systems in other regions with stringent environmental regulations like the U.S and Europe.