by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | July 23, 2018
From the July 2018 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Bradley, a longtime GE customer, acquired the newest model of the company’s Voluson E10 ultrasound in March. She raved about the system’s ergodynamic capabilities including presets that enable her to switch between 3D and 4D.
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She compared using 3D/4D for the first time with getting a new smartphone. The technology is great, but it can be frustrating if you don’t know how to use it.
Radiantflow fetal heart and aorta, C2-9 (Voluson E10)
“I have never seen my patients remark as much as they have with this [new system] because I can quickly shift between the different 3D and 4D presets with much more ease, so I can show them things more quickly,” she said.
She spends about 45 minutes to an hour with each patient and the presets save her about 10 to 15 minutes per patient.
Bradley is also excited about GE’s new Radiant Flow technique, which was introduced in the U.S. in the beginning of the year. It can help the user determine if the fetal brain is getting enough blood support, and improves the detection of abnormalities in the fetal heart.
“It is going to probably be a game changer in terms of prenatal diagnosis,” said Bradley. “I’m really looking forward to seeing where the specialty goes with using this.”
Samsung Healthcare offers a technology called 5D Heart that generates the nine standard fetal cardiac views to capture one dynamic cardiac cycle. This helps to perform a more thorough exam.
“Congenital heart disease used to have a very low prenatal detection rate despite the improvements in 2D, 3D and 4D image quality,” said Kathy Elliott, senior marketing manager of ultrasound at Samsung.
She added that the 5D Heart tool has 98 percent sensitivity, 93 percent specificity and 95 percent accuracy for the detection of congenital heart disease.
High BMI population
More than one-third of adults in the U.S. are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the obstetrics field, this patient population is considered to be “technically difficult”.
Patients who are obese during pregnancy are at greater risk of fetal anomalies, which can be missed because they require a degree of penetration that a conventional ultrasound system cannot provide. Some of the major vendors offer more advanced technology for these patients.
