GE Healthcare will introduce its Vscan pocket-sized, ultraportable, easy-to-use visualization tool to the Middle East region at Arab Health 2010 on January 25, 2010.
Developed to help make point-of-care imaging a reality, Vscan has the potential to redefine the way doctors examine patients and ultimately help improve patient care by enhancing the physical exam and enabling more rapid diagnosis at the point of care.
Vscan is roughly the size of a smart phone, but houses powerful, ultrasmart ultrasound technology that can be used in many clinical, hospital or primary care settings and can easily be taken from room to room.
Through healthymagination, GE is tackling the toughest global challenges in healthcare today. GE’s goal is to improve the quality of care by increasing access to important healthcare technologies and providing online training and support. Vscan provides immediate, non-invasive information about what is happening inside the body and offers the power and image quality that until recently was only available as a console ultrasound – potentially helping to speed diagnoses, reduce patient wait-times and improve physician workflow.
• For primary care clinicians, Vscan has the potential to help improve the quality of the physical exam by providing an immediate, quick look inside the body. The device enables clinicians to visualize what they feel and hear with traditional palpation or auscultation techniques. The Vscan’s innovative, hand-held technology can quickly provide critical information to help in the rapid detection of conditions such as gall stones and cardiac issues like left-ventricular systolic dysfunction. The Vscan may someday be in the pocket of every primary care physician.
• For cardiologists, Vscan provides a dependable, visual evaluation to help monitor patients at risk more efficiently and effectively.
• For critical care clinicians, Vscan offers an immediate look beyond patient vital signs with the potential to identify critical issues like abdominal aortic aneurysm and fluid around the heart, and to monitor cardiac activity.
Vscan can also provide women’s health physiciansthe ability to take a quick look inside the body during a physical exam and help detect disease earlier.
The Vscan visualization tool has been granted 510K clearance in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CE mark by the European Union, and will be commercially available in the U.S., Europe and India on February 15, 2010, and in the Middle East by March 1, 2010. GE is currently enlisting 12 leading clinical sites throughout the world to help determine how Vscan will impact patient workflow and focused exams in primary care and the cardiology practice, and develop a structural protocol for Vscan exams in the future.
The easy-to-use Vscan visualization tool has the potential to help redefine the physical exam and provide more accurate information to help speed diagnosis, improve patient management and workflow, and deliver the next level of patient care. It also provides:
• Lightweight, pocket-sized portability – fits in a lab coat pocket.
• Intuitive user interface that can be easily controlled with one hand using the thumb.
• Intelligent tools for workflow enhancement – AutoOptimize to quickly obtain optimal settings and AutoCycle, which automatically selects heart cycle for quick storage without electrodes.
• Two standard imaging modes, including black and white for anatomy and color-coded blood flow.
• Voice annotation, which can be stored within every exam.
• Battery charger station and battery life of one hour scanning – good for up to 30 patients based on average of 2 minutes per scan.
• USB docking station to connect to PC and customer’s data management tools. It also serves as the recharging station and convenient device storage.
• 4 GB micro-SD card capable of storing hundreds of exams.
• Gateway software with service tools and remote diagnostics, in addition to image browser and management.
• On-line education for product and basic clinical applications with sections about imaging technique, anatomy and troubleshooting.