Sunday, March 28, 2010

GE Healthcare Introduces New Ultrasound Elastography Capability

SAN DIEGO, CA, MARCH 24, 2010 ― GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) today announced that an important new feature has been added to its LOGIQ E9 platform; elastography. The enhanced device is on display at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine’s (AIUM) 2010 Annual Convention in San Diego (booth 301).

GE’s LOGIQ E9 introduces ultrasound elastography utilizing a high frequency E-series transducer with a simple compression technique which helps make elastography easier to perform and a more reproducible method of examination.

“Physicians have traditionally examined differences in tissue by hand palpation during physical exams,” said Brian McEathron, general manager of General Imaging Ultrasound, GE Healthcare. “The LOGIQ E9 helps give doctors a digital interpretation of the physical exam that can be easier to reproduce in follow-up examinations by either the original physician or other clinicians.”

LOGIQ E9 elastography is a tool that helps provide a gentle way to obtain information about internal tissue structures and has the potential to assist in patient management decisions, increase diagnostic confidence and help lead to fewer invasive procedures.

source: GE Healthcare

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Unique Guideline Demonstrates A Multi-Specialty Outlook For Musculoskeletal Ultrasound

The AIUM is pleased to announce that 4 professional societies have collaborated with AIUM to endorse the recent AIUM Training Guidelines for the Performance of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Examinations. The guidelines allow for a several practitioners, including physicians, osteopathic physicians, podiatrists, and sonographers, to perform musculoskeletal ultrasound examinations, marking significant promise for the future of this growing field.

The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, American Podiatric Medical Association, and Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Society have provided official support/endorsement for the guidelines to date.

source: Medical News Today

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Toshiba Highlights Ultrasound Cardiac Capabilities At ACC 2010

ATLANTA, March 16, 2010 – Health care facilities use ultrasound as a first-line diagnostic exam to quickly and efficiently perform a range of patient exams, including cardiac imaging. Developed to meet these demanding clinical needs, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. will showcase the advanced cardiac capabilities of its AplioTM MX and Aplio ArtidaTM ultrasound systems at this year’s American College of Cardiology (ACC) annual meeting in Atlanta, March 14 – 16, 2010 (Booth # 1944). This is the first appearance of the Aplio MX at ACC.

Introduced in November 2009, Toshiba’s new Aplio MX ultrasound system is a mid-sized, cart-based system that improves patient care by offering increased portability and patient access, with the ability to perform premium ultrasound exams using this smaller system. The functional Aplio MX allows physicians to quickly and efficiently perform a range of advanced ultrasound exams, including cardiac, on patients when space is limited, such as in the emergency department, intensive care unit, outside the lab and at the patient’s bedside.

Features of the Aplio MX include:
• Contrast Harmonics to provide the ability to use bubble based contrast agents that help to provide better tissue definition on difficult-to-image patients during echocardiograms.

• Differential Tissue Harmonic Imaging for the better imaging of difficult-to-image patients, like bariatric, without sacrificing resolution to give superior border and tissue definition.

• ApliPure+ to enhance both image clarity and detail definition with real-time compounding technology to simultaneously perform spatial and frequency compounding during transmitting and receiving.

• Advanced Dynamic Flow to provide color Doppler imaging at an unprecedented level and show flow with directional information for even the smallest vessels.

• Tissue Doppler Imaging Quantification (TDIQ) software to perform various analyses by Angle Corrected Displacement and Strain to measure myocardial viability.

source: Toshiba Medical

Monday, March 15, 2010

GE Healthcare Introduces New Ultrasound Needle Tracking Capability

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Tampa, FL, United States, 03/15/2010 - LOGIQ E9’s new volume navigation feature includes electromagnetic needle tip sensor for improved guidance accuracy.

GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) today announced an important new onboard feature to its LOGIQ E9 platform – needle tracking powered by GE’s innovative Volume Navigation capability. The enhanced device is on display at the Society for Interventional Radiology’s 35th Annual Scientific Meeting (booth 620).

With the extraordinary image quality of the LOGIQ E9, this new Volume Navigation needle tracking capability with its sensor tipped needle helps overcome many of the traditional challenges of existing ultrasound needle guidance such as needle visualization and deflection, determining entry points and the avoidance of critical anatomy. This, in turn, can help increase the accuracy of procedures such as biopsies, ablations, drainage, fluid aspiration and general injections.

“LOGIQ E9’s advanced needle tracking can now help medical professionals utilize ultrasound during in-plane and challenging out-of-plane interventional procedures,” said Brian McEathron, general manager of General Imaging Ultrasound, GE Healthcare. “This can reduce time, limit repeat procedures, improve outcomes and result in a better overall patient experience.”

Before the skin is even penetrated, the LOGIQ E9’s advanced technology projects the path to the target, helping to plan the optimal angle and point of entry. During the procedure, the system displays the needle’s position in real-time graphics that are overlaid on the image of the scan plane. The trajectory can then be monitored as it progresses toward the target.

source: Newswire

Friday, March 12, 2010

TechniScan teams with researchers at UC San Diego in clinical study with Warm Bath UltrasoundTM system

SALT LAKE CITY (March 9, 2010) -- TechniScan, Inc. (OTC BB: TSNI) (“TechniScan” or the “Company”), a medical device company engaged in the development and commercialization of an automated breast ultrasound imaging system, today announced that it has commenced phase two of its grant study at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Moores Cancer Center.

TechniScan’s Warm Bath Ultrasound (WBU™) system is designed to capture three-dimensional images of the breast as a woman lies prone on a table and state-of-the- art ultrasound technology is used in a warm water tank to capture images of the breast anatomy.

The Moores UCSD Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated comprehensive cancer center with scientists and clinicians focused on developing the next generation of cancer therapies and cures. The TechniScan Warm Bath UltrasoundTM system investigations will be conducted with Michael P. Andre, Ph.D., Professor of Radiology, and breast radiologists Dr. Linda Olson and Dr. Haydee Ojeda-Fournier.

source: Techniscan

Saturday, March 6, 2010

SonoSite's NanoMaxx Ultrasound System Selected as a Finalist for the 2010 Edison Best New Product Awards

BOTHELL, Wash., Mar 04, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SonoSite, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!sono/quotes/nls/sono (SONO 31.08, +0.32, +1.04%) , the world leader and specialist in hand-carried ultrasound for the point-of-care, announced today that the 6 lb. NanoMaxx(TM) ultrasound system was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Edison Best New Product Awards. The awards are inspired by the enormous contributions of renowned inventor Thomas Edison and honor significant achievements in new product development, marketing, and innovation.

SonoSite's NanoMaxx system is an extremely portable, high-resolution imaging tool that provides point-of-care visualization to a variety of medical specialties. Empowering physicians to meet the highest standard of patient care, the NanoMaxx system targets applications that will improve patient safety and minimize complications. With one-dial control, advanced proprietary imaging algorithms, a 20 second boot-up time, and a rugged form factor (successfully drop-tested from three feet), the NanoMaxx system is a breakthrough technology that truly meets an unmet clinical need.

The Edison Award finalists were selected by a rigorous peer-reviewed voting system, which comprised of an estimated 2,000 members of not-for-profit Marketing Executives Network Group (MENG), America's top executives, and academic researchers.

source: MarketWatch