The goals are ambitious: Although in the market merely four years, the start-up firm Alpinion Medical Systems states its intention to become one of the prime providers in the ultrasound segment with superior imaging and unique transducer technologies. In an interview with Daniela Zimmermann of European Hospital, Thomas Roth, Alpinion’s Managing Director, explains his corporate strategy and…
Manufactured by Royal Philips Electronics and currently being introduced in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand, ClearVue introduces proprietary Active Array technology, which moves key technology from the system to the transducer, resulting in enhanced image quality in 2-D and colour, lighter weight cabling and increased transducer reliability, Philips reports.
The Honda HS-2100 is one of the latest developments from the Medical division of Honda Electronics, in Aichi, Japan. This portable, sleek, compact system has fine image quality, the firm reports: The front-end is fully digital which, combined with the unique technology, guarantees optimal image quality and focusing on pixel level.
Toshiba’s new high-end ultrasound series, the Aplio 300, 400 and 500, introduced during the World Congress of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology in Vienna, this August, was heralded by the firm as ‘A giant leap forward’, due to its inclusion of features such as Fly Thru and Smart Fusion.
For the paediatric radiologist an ultrasound system is as essential as a wrench for the mechanic, for three reasons, says Professor Michel Claudon, Head of the Department of Radiology at the Children's Hospital of Brabois, University of Nancy, France: ‘High image quality due to the low weight of children, which allows medium frequency, the absence of radiation and the possibility of performing…
The goals are ambitious: Although in the market merely four years, the start-up firm Alpinion Medical Systems states its intention to become one of the prime providers in the ultrasound mid-range price segment. In an interview with Daniela Zimmermann of European Hospital, Thomas Roth, Alpinion’s Managing Director, explains his corporate strategy and conviction of success.
World of Ultrasound met Prof. Ioan Sporea, Prof. Gebhard Mathis and Prof. Byung Ihn Choi to ask them three questions.
Explaining the value of the iU22 xMATRIX ultrasound system, Philips describes its new array transducer within the system – the X6-1 PureWave xMATRIX – as revolutionary.‘It harnesses the power of over 9000 active elements, more than 35 times greater than conventional transducers, to capture crisp, high-resolution images of even technically challenging patients,’ the company points out,…
Catastrophes draw people closer, as demonstrated by the development of the new high-end ultrasound scanner Aplio 500 from Toshiba. The clinical evaluation period took place during the tsunami and the nuclear catastrophe in Fukusima. Professor Thomas Fischer at the Radiological Institute, Charité Clinic in Berlin, was impressed by the enormous commitment shown by the Japanese firm’s engineers…
Prenatal ultrasound images are the first images we see of new humans. But the prenatal ultrasound first carried out by Professor Ian Donald in the late 50s has little to do with today’s potential with 3-D and 4-D imaging with Doppler and colour Doppler. The three tightly linked disciplines gynaecology, prenatal medicine and obstetrics would now be inconceivable without ultrasound
An opening lecture at WFUMB 2011 will surely excite the audience with its focus on using ultrasound examinations of larger, non-human patients. Delivered by Dr Thomas B Hildebrandt, head of the reproduction management research group at the Leibnis Institute for zoo & wildlife research in Berlin/Germany, delegates will hear of the ways in which veterinary needs push ultrasound to achieve…
High flexibility and live conditions contribute towards the high popularity of image-guided interventions, now performed under ultrasound control in 80-90% of cases. However, although minimally-invasive examinations are based on high standards of medical safety, complications can arise that could ultimately lead to litigation. Thus, experienced ultrasound operators would be wise to know the…
Lung ultrasound is a technique with widespread uses and advantages in a range of areas from critical care through to less urgent medical areas. Most of all, it is of particular help in the rapid diagnosis of acute respiratory failure. During a session at WFUMB, its benefits and the latest techniques will be outlined by medical intensivist Dr Daniel Lichtenstein -- Lung Ultrasound in Acute…
Rapid and accurate acquisition of basic diagnostic information through the innovative concept of point of care ultrasound can have significant benefits for patient outcome, costs, reducing mortality and medical-legal risk scenarios. These benefits of point-of-care (POC) ultrasound will be highlighted during a WFUMB session by Italian critical care physician Professor Luca Neri, founder and past…
Detecting prostate cancer with transrectal ultrasound using strain elastography is quite tricky: it works by applying pressure to the transducer to measure relative stiffness of tissue, Professor Correas points out and states that ‘more than 80 percent of prostate cancer develops in the peripheral zone which is against the rectal wall. If we apply pressure to this zone the deformation of the…
Dr Helmut Prosch, at the University Clinic for Radio-Diagnostics, Vienna, Austria, is examining the role of imaging in lung cancer diagnosis and staging. The key message of his presentation in the session EUS and EBUS vs. CT, MR and PET-CT in the staging of lung cancer is that the modalities do not compete with one another – as the title suggests – but are perfectly complimentary in the…
Although space limitations have reduced the number of live scanning sessions at past World Ultrasound Congresses, this year greater space at the Vienna venue has enabled the organisation of 51 live scanning sessions by Dr Christian Aiginger, consultant internist at the St. Josef Hospital Vienna Auhof, with Dr Helmut Prosch, Consultant at the Department of General Radiology and Paediatric…
In recent years the ultrasound division of Siemens Healthcare appeared to be a Sleeping Beauty slumbering on in the shadow of large slice imaging equipment such as PET/CT and MR/PET, the medical technology giant’s favourite daughters. With many of the world’s wealthy princes, particularly from India, Brazil, China, and so on, knocking on Siemens’ doors, the giant has at last decided to wake…
Although many new features in US-guided interventions are being marketed, which are really necessary, which just nice-to-have? It’s a question to be faced by experts during the refresher course ‘Interventional ultrasound’ at WFUMB 2011. One of the most established ultrasound techniques in minimally invasive procedures is contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) – a tool that is safe, gentle…
Contrast agents have opened up entirely new possibilities are taking shape for ultrasound, above all in oncology. Following the publication of guidelines on the clinical use of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) by the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB) in 2004 and 2008, at this year’s World Ultrasound Congress, WFUMB and EFSUMB will present joint…
Uncontrollable convulsions, tremor or spasms can considerably impair the lives of neurodegenerative disease patients. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) – for which tiny electrodes are implanted in the brain to stimulate the target areas continuously with electrical impulses – can significantly reduce the movement disorder.
Extending a welcoming greeting to international delegates to the 13th World Congress of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB), Congress Presidents Michel Claudon (WFUMB President), Gerhard Mostbeck (Chairman of the Organising Committee) and Christian Nolsøe (EFSUMB President), pointed out that this year’s congress in Vienna ‘…is a unique cooperation with the…
Sahlgrenska University Hospital provides emergency and basic care for the 700,000 inhabitants of the Gothenburg region. It also provides highly specialised care for the 1.7 million inhabitants in Sweden’s west because, in this country, endoscopic ultrasound examinations are only provided in university hospitals. Thus Sahlgrenska’s physicians receive referrals of difficult diagnostic cases…
In recent years, the technique of breast ultra-sonography has become an essential procedure in the diagnostic evaluation of breast tissue. The improvement of ultrasound technology, especially with regards to the high resolution of modern devices and the use of colour Doppler sonography, has made this technique indispensable in our daily routine. Although the value of conventional breast…
More than 90% of patients who present with suspect or highly suspect breast lesions (BI-RADS categories 4 or 5) now undergo biopsies. Further treatment is only carried out after the precise histological clarification of the tissue sample is obtained. The intervention is routinely carried out via ultrasound guided punch biopsy. Thanks to new techniques the procedure is now becoming even more…