GE VScan portable ultrasound earns the Leonard McCoy seal of approval
By Ross Miller 
posted Oct 22nd 2009 2:45AM
posted Oct 22nd 2009 2:45AM
[Via Pocket-Lint]
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Ok, finally a cell phone that could actually cause cancer. They were right, we should've listened. Now it's too late, we'll all DIE!
//sarcasm
Well, this device use sound waves. If sound waves can cause cancer, we should be all dead.
Sound waves will kill you. It just takes 85 or so years to do it.
Die.
i believe mccoy would tell us that this belongs in the Dark Ages
As a physician, I can tell you I would use this daily, and it could save weeks in making diagnoses with the wait times there can be to get ultrasounds done and could allow me to push ahead those who have concerning lesions.
"wait times there can be to get ultrasounds done" ?
What kind of physician are you? never been any wait time for ultrasounds, it takes 10 minutes and you can get them done privately for less that £20/$40
raburns: You should be thankful, then, that your life allows you that benefit. The norm, for the majority of people in the world, is to have little to no access to equipment of this sort. To have to move to other cities or make appointments for specific dates, with waiting lists, to get treatments or analyses or scans.
In some places pregnant women would be pushed as far ahead of the waiting list as possible (that is, not ahead of other pregnant women), which usually means you're still waiting, but you wait less.
There is a huge world outside your community that doesn't have ready access to equipment nor an "affordable private sector" to rely on (20 GBP can be two weeks worth of wages in places I have lived in).
I think he's not talking about the time spent on examing. He is talking about the time you have to wait to start the exam. I never managed to schedule an exam for the same day I called the clinic.
This thing will be a boon to rural and poor areas where people have to travel long distances to have access to good diagnostic equipment. I'm sure they will still be expensive. But in areas where roads and transport are scarce this will be revolutionary.
This thing is going to be HUGE. Think about it...not only is it a small, readily portable and (eventually) affordable unit, it can replace an awful lot of X-rays. Less radiation, and it works in real time. Medical professionals will only be one market: picture the chagrin on your face as the TSA worker jams that thing against your belly and sees the fat bag of dope you swallowed.
Good to see 21st century application technology making its way into the fields of medicine...
This would be incredibly useful and practical for use along with my tunic and rubber ears on Halloween spocking out.
I think this is a great example of mankind riding the pinnacle of advanced civilization through knowledge, innovation and invention. we have mastered the atom, stood on other worlds and harnessed energy. Most of this has been accomplished in the last odd 200yrs of human history.
As for the practical uses of this device it could significantly reduce the infant mortality rate amongst remote communities in third world countries where people can not get to medical centers, which are highly unlikely to have an ultra sound machine. This is going to make GE a lot of money too, specially if they have patents.
Well as you say: Could. Selling them at a premium price until the medical systems are sucked dry - and the patent is about to run out, will slightly hinder this noble vision.
Well its a start and if it were not for the money and competition (capitalism) these things would not make it to market.
Certainly if we followed mother Russias way of doing things this would be the size of a briefcase, have a lead battery, look steampunk-ish and fall to bits in a day with replacement parts ordered from the Lada factory. Plus the radio activity would be hazardous to all within a 12 mile radius.
So to borrow a phrase from religion, Capitalism Saves!
We didn't stand on other worlds, we don't really understand atoms that well, and as for civilization... well, look around you.
pairing that with the second comment I understand you use advanced civilized drugs to switch off your brain altogether, well done, but for people that do that there's the youtube commentsystem.
Then scan him with this device to check for life signs to see if he's really dead.
i think this is not a practical device. you wouldnt always use an ultrasound so why buy a portable one. you can just get in a hospital if you need it.
http://www.enjayneer.com
This is one of the most amazing medical advances I have ever seen ...
you know what could be way cooler, though?
If they made an ultrasound transducer that you can hook up to your HTC HD2 via miniUSB 2.0, and install it's accompanying software on your WM6.5.1 device, and voila! you have a portable echo/GSM phone/PDA in your hands!
but still, I drooled pretty hard when I saw this Vscan thingy.
When I first saw the picture I thought it was a new concept for an 'iPod Flip'.
I'm see sex toy written all over it.
Looks like now they can offer a more "complete" home pregnancy kit...
I am a physicain and use diagnostic ultrasounbd EVERY DAY. My unit is the size of a small carry on bag and sits on a cart. THe portability of this unit would make it easy to bring to the remote locations I go to several times a month when I WISH I had a device as small and portable as this!
Yeah most doctors in the west spend all of their time doing housecalls nowadays, also I'm a nigerian widow and have a special offer for you in the sum of.. well details will follow.
It's handy for ambulances though
Psycros, it wouldn´t replace x-ray or any other imaging modality. Ultrasound is ultrasound! "Small"-sized portable US machines have been around for some time now so the use for this is a little bit limited, because it is a SMALL limited device. If you have a small US machine in the ER, the office, the ambulance or the car, it would be available straight away when you need it, but it would be more like a fully functional US, not just the smartphone version. I don´t see the need to have it in my pocket, but I´m just a medical student...
I was actually amazed when he showed it "doing" doppler US. I would never think a smart phone was powerfull enough to do doppler, let alone ultrasound. Then again he was simply showing a video of it. The guy had no idea what he was talking about, referring to doppler as "color"...
The doctors in my PCP's office all carry around laptops now. Wonder why they did not make a USB version. I would guess a laptop would have the necessary computing power needed to run the device.
Think ambulances, think army medical, think 3rd world assist teams from doctors without borders and such.
Think blue screen.
Okay, that was just sitting there. Either way, an all-in-one apppliance has its benefits.
i bet it still has better battery life than my iphone
If this becomes affordable enough that couples expecting a baby can use it at home, it will provide a huge level of peace of mind to them. Great invention!
Um, it's not going to be targeted at stupid neurotic mommies at home who want to constantly scan themselves for signs of a heartbeat. It's for places where it's hard to get to by western-standard methods - do you have any idea how big an issue it is to not be able to provide basic care like ultrasounds to the millions (billions even) of people who are not near major metropolitan areas? Even small portable ultrasound equipment is difficult to haul around today, so something like this will be an unbelievably large improvement to the care in those countries. (I won't say that those same stupid mommies won't try to buy these things, but those are certainly the last group of people I'm sure anyone involved in making this really cared about.)
You know, there are mothers in the world who aren't just "stupid neurotic mommies". I lost my son due to stillbirth at 35 weeks. For those of us who have experienced this, a device like this could literally save our unborn babies lives. I resent the idea that you imply that women who are expecting are neurotic because they want to ensure there children are brought into this world alive. I think this technology should be available to those who can afford it. Stillbirth happens to 1 in 100 women. After having been through it, I would mortgage my house to ensure I have every technology available to bring my next child into this world breathing.
hmm .. lets see .. most Western doctors wouldn't need this, as they don't go out in the 'field' anymore to see Mothers-to-be.
This device should be a hit in developing countries ... contributing to the already high rates of selective abortion. Google "India + Child Sex Ratio"
Thanks GE!!
You can use your cell phone, too:
http://ultrasound.engineering.wustl.edu/index.php/Cell_Phone_SDK
This work has been out there for 9+ months, now.
And while Kevin P. has a point about some developing countries, there are plenty of remote, underserved people in the good old U.S.A. who would greatly benefit from this technology.
This is a very useful technology as ultrasound is one of the most important imaging modalities (especially as a first-line diagnostic). Making ultrasound more available to community (i.e. traveling) cardiologists, for example, or physicians/technologists in developing nations could be invaluable. Ultrasound is used for far more than than just OB/GYN, as a few people have suggested.
There are a variety of other options out there, though. USB or Firewire-based ultrasound probes are certainly available (as they have been for some time). Might it be less expensive, just as portable and ultimately more clear (from a resolution perspective) to plug such a device into a cheap laptop? Or, a team at Washington University has an SDK available that can interface a USB probe directly with a smartphone: http://ultrasound.engineering.wustl.edu/index.php/Cell_Phone_SDK. The really great thing about that is that those images could then be sent to a professional (potentially particularly useful in developing nations), as someone mused above. And, of course, there are plenty of portable machines available, too...
Anyway, very cool technology, but I kinda' suspect that buy-in won't be huge.
If you just want to know if your baby is still alive, you don´t need ultrasound, the mother should notice that pretty quickly. Other than that I doubt regular folks can make much sense of what they are looking at. If they can, they still do not have the relevant clinical knowledge to make use of what they see. Is it then really usefull, or is it just COOL?
There are lots and lots of doctors and institutions that need portable US, but portable enough to put in your pocked just seems like overkill to me. What can you really see on that tiny screen anyway?
And I´m still doubting the processing power. Is it really sufficient? I don´t know...
Can you say "fetal heart monitor?" Can you Google it?
1) you can see lots on the "tiny screen." OBs who have seen similar technology (the USB cell phone stuff) are amazed and encouraged.
2) You do not know if your 8-16 week fetus is alive by feeling it. You need to see a heartbeat. These devices make that easy.
3) As pointed out, a Doppler fetal heart monitor does a good job of that, too, but cannot see other problems (like placenta previa)
Ignoring OB applications, how about seeing if you have a problem with your gall bladder, kidneys or liver well before any symptoms occur? All can be done, easily, in the doctor's office while in for a physical exam. If the device is easy to use, inexpensive and handy (i.e. in the drawer or pocket) then it can be used and can lead to earlier diagnosis and, thus, less expensive treatment.
One problem with the GE device (if it's true) is that the data cannot be removed from the device. Hence, the data cannot be added to a patient record or sent to a consulting physician for a second opinion. It may be that by the time this device is on sale it will have that capability, though.
Less expensive for the doctor, not for the patient, he'll get the same bill I'm sure.
Incidentally this should also work for vets right? Although you'd need a razor too I assume to get a hairfree surface to put the sensor, but it might be handy for in the field animal care too I was thinking.
Ummm...not to be too cynical, but the capability of that device AS DEMONSTRATED was only to play back pre-recorded studies. Would be interesting to see the real-time imaging capability.
The idea of "echo in the pocket" is pretty awesome. Pretty nifty for those instances where intravenous access is difficult too!