WASHINGTON — Despite a challenging market related to the global credit situation, the U.S. medical technology market continues to grow, according to a report released here.

Ernst & Young released its first U.S. Medtech Report at the AdvaMed MedTech Conference. The report looked at trends and financial data from the 301 publicly traded medical technology companies with headquarters in the United States.

"The industry is poised for growth in the years ahead due to aging populations, the wider prevalence of chronic diseases and an expected surge in demand for companion diagnostics to accompany new generations of targeted therapies," Richard Ramko, Ernst & Young U.S. medical technology leader, said in a press release distributed here.

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Although the credit crunch has depressed public equity investments — there have been only three initial public offerings in the first half of 2008 compared with a total of 13 last year — medical technology companies are still attracting record amounts of venture capital, according to Mr. Ramko.