Better Ergonomics Aids Cardiac Ultrasound

An enhanced version of the Philips iE33 xMatrix cardiac ultrasound system features a new ergonomic solution for more efficient adult echocardiograms, the X5-1 transducer.

The system enables expanded cardiac-related diagnostic capabilities related to ischemic disease detection, structural heart disease assessment, as well as systolic and diastolic heart failure and arrhythmia. The new system gives clinicians new diagnostic tools and helps them examine patients more quickly. Clinicians who have experienced scanning fatigue will appreciate that the X5-1 transducer, which combines the ergonomics of 2-D transducers with the 3-D technology they need.

Features include 2-D and 3-D image quality utilizing a single transducer, near instantaneous acquisition of 3-D volumes, new 3-D workflow tools and visualized color Doppler flow pattern during 3-D exams. With the X5-1 and iRotate, a clinician can more easily obtain challenging 2-D views, such as apical two-chamber. Rather than manually rotating the transducer and searching for a window that is not obscured by ribs, rotation is achieved electronically to maintain the best acoustical window. When used in stress echo, iRotate allows clinicians to complete an entire stress echo protocol from the standard windows following peak exertion without rotating the X5-1 transducer.

The system also offers a 3-D stress echo solution that can be incorporated with conventional 2-D stress echo. After acquiring a volume, clinicians can then use the system’s advanced iSlice software to obtain short axis views of the heart’s apex. This constitutes additional clinical information that is not routinely obtained by ultrasound.

This version of the system was released in August 2010.

For more information: http://bit.ly/PhilipsatESC2010