November 10, 2008 - GE Healthcare launched three new cardiac ultrasound devices for the U.S. market to aid 4D heart imaging and quantitative analysis at the 2009 meeting of the American Heart Association.
Ten years ago, GE acquired Diasonics Vingmed Ultrasound Ltd., creating the Vivid family of cardiovascular ultrasound products. At the time, the idea of even capturing a full-volume 4D cardiac image remained out of reach. Today, GE offers it on the all-new Vivid E9 in a single heartbeat. The company said this was made possible by the Vivid E9’s new engine, which is eight times more powerful than its predecessor. Its 4D Virtual Store uses image pointers to help users better manage the large data sets 4D imaging provides. With the push of a button, “One touch Easy 4D” automatically crops away the full volume and gives the user the requested view.
The Vivid E9 marks GE’s maiden voyage into true 4D stress echo, the company said. Using new scan assist technology, users can acquire single cycle or multi cycle full volumes in any variation of traditional, multi dimensional or full volume views. Vivid E9’s templates for both exercise and pharmacologic stress tests are all fully customizable, GE stated.
Vivid E9’s Accelerated Volume Architecture (AVA) makes single beat acquisition possible, and alongside extended signal transducer technology in each probe, it delivers a leap in 2D, 4D and shared service image quality, the company said.
The new M5S transducer takes the matrix array technology and marries this with single crystal technology to reportedly provide better endocardial definition, texture, and crisper valves across a wider range of frequencies than traditional transducers.
The Vivid E9 is also 40 percent smaller and 30 percent lighter than the Vivid 7. It also has a one touch access for the electronic keyboard and touch panel and another touch adjusts the height and position, instantly.
GE also announced at AHA the delivery of the 5,000th unit in the Vivid compact ultrasound family. GE engineers said they took the advanced features of Vivid i and expanded them with enhanced exceptional imaging and new quantification tools. The result is the all-new Vivid q cardiovascular ultrasound system for portable echocardiography. It can be used to diagnose cardiovascular anatomy and LV.
The Vivid q features new image quality enhancements migrated from the Vivid 7, including the M4S transducer. The matrix probe technology with the M4S transducer allows electronic beam focusing in three dimensions, enabling higher image quality levels, the company said.
Designed specifically for the Vivid q, AutoEF is a new automated ejection fraction measurement program that works alongside the AFI (automated function imaging) feature, migrated from Vivid 7. Tissue synchronization imaging (TSI) including quantitative analysis represents parametric imaging modes to help physicians see quantitative information in moving two-dimensional images.
GE’s Vivid i and Vivid q systems now offer intracardiac echo (ICE) technology, providing real-time image guidance and visualization of anatomical structures to help clinicians increase their confidence when performing complex electrophysiology and interventional cardiology procedures.
For more information: www.gehealthcare.com
