Examining the LOR Market

A brief overview of the market opportunity:

Large Market

There are over 11 million epidural procedures performed in the US each year. It is one of the fastest growing of all medical procedures. This is not limited to the US. Epidural steroid injections are the most commonly performed procedure for pain relief in the world. Western Europe is estimated to have a similar number of procedures to the US. Worldwide Epidural procedures are estimated over 30 million per year.

Market Need

The standard of care is for physicians perform the procedure free hand, without guidance using the Loss of Resistance (LOR) technique. Incorrect needle placement, side effects and complications are common. It is especially difficult to train new physicians (residents and nurse anesthetists) how to perform epidurals because the procedure is 100% done by hand and the trainer cannot place their hands on the needle during the training procedures.

Market Need Not Being Met

Cost is an issue, as the number of procedures has exploded, insurance reimbursement is under increased scrutiny. Ultrasound and fluoroscopic guidance involve expensive capital equipment purchases, are not well reimbursed and used in less than half of the procedures. There are currently no other low cost, easy to use alternative real-time needle guidance methods available to physicians at this time.

Market Size

Epidural procedures are one of the fastest growing procedures in the US and worldwide. It is estimated that over 11 million epidural procedures are performed each year in the US and over 30 million worldwide. Over $5 billion is spent annually on epidural injections in the US alone. 

The approximate break down of epidural procedures in the US is:

• 11+ million epidurals in the US per year and growing according to Medicare data

• 2.4 million labor procedures

• ~9 million pain intervention steroid injections

• Nerve blocks for hip and knee surgeries

• ~900,000 total and growing

• Medicare patients account for about 20% of the total epidural procedures