Reviews and News on Ultrasound Machines

When most people think about ultrasound machines, the image of an expectant mother comes to mind long before that of a heart patient. But one of the cardinal rules of medicine is “if you can’t see it, you cannot diagnose it.”

Over the past few decades, innovations in ultrasound technology have allowed it to assume a much larger role in life-saving cardiology equipment. Now, with Philips Cardiology Solutions, echocardiography can be done in conjunction with 2-D and 3-D imaging to quantify results.

Here are some of the most advanced ultrasound machines from Philips that are currently available.

* The IE33 is a premium echo system from Philips that leads the way in evaluating heart failure and managing continuing care.
* The powerful HD15 gives physicians the high level of clinical performance they need while accommodating larger patient loads. It also offers the type of diagnostic capabilities that allow them to conduct more in-depth evaluations.
* Philips’ CX50 is a portable ultrasound machine for echocardiography applications, featuring quality PureWave transducers and unique networking and work flow solutions.
* The HD7 and The HD7’s proven architecture delivers the highest performance for cardiologist offices. The larger HD7 XE is an excellent choice for full-service clinical environments, large practices, and hospital echocardiography labs. Both of these ultrasound machines deliver high-definition visuals and are easy to use.

Philips Cardiology solutions have taken echocardiography to a whole new level. As the role of ultrasound machines expands into new areas of health care, Philips is always ready to provide the right solution.

The engineers at Texas Instruments have introduced a new technology that uses a new “analog front end” chip in its ultrasound equipment. The new chip plays a key role in delivering accurate ultrasound capabilities in a host of new locations, including ambulances, remote geographic areas and disaster sites.

By packing 30 and 40 components into a single electronic chip, this small yet powerful technology enables ultrasound equipment manufacturers to develop compact devices that shrink console-sized equipment into handheld units.

Not only can the analog front-end (AFE) chip cut the size of equipment by 70 percent, and reduce power usage by 40 percent, it also delivers good image quality. Like other AFE chips, the new product manages signals as they move through an ultrasound machine’s probe into its microprocessor. But this new device differs from its predecessors in size by incorporating eight 12-bit “analog-to-digital” converters; voltage controlled attenuators, 16 variable gain amplifiers, programmable gain amplifiers and anti-aliasing filters into a 9 x 9 mm chip.

Texas Instruments was able to reduce the size of the packaging by creating a new system architecture and eliminating the low-noise amplifier from the product. The new AFE5851 is the first 16 channel analog front end chip on the ultrasound market, and it is also the smallest and lowest-powered AFE currently available.

Going back just a few years, ultrasound equipment designers were still using large components, but the new AFE chip has placed 30 to 40 of these components into a single chip. In addition, this new device consumes only 39 mW per channel, while operating at an astounding 32.5 mega-samples per second.

Thanks to the new TI chip, healthcare professionals should begin to see a new breed of compact ultrasound machines with the portability to reach remote areas where larger console units could not be used. Its small size and low power draw will give ultrasound manufacturers a new target market to pursue.

Using “cyclic sound pressure”, ultrasound equipment operates on a frequency of about 20 kilohertz, which is greater than what the human ear can hear. Most often used to produce pictures of a fetus in the womb, ultrasound machines work by measuring energy and sound waves that bounce off of the inner structures of the body.

Diagnostic imaging has dramatically improved over the past several years, and ultrasound machines are the most commonly used form of medical diagnostic imaging. This non-invasive technique is used to visualize internal organs to assess their size and structure, while locating any abnormalities within them. A sonographer, or ultrasound technician, usually administers these tests in a medical office or hospital, and most prenatal facilities have an ultrasound machine on the premises.

Because ultrasound is relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of diagnostic testing, it has become one of the most commonly used tools in modern medicine. It is a safe test because it relies on sound waves instead of radiation, which has been known to cause cancer.

How do obstetricians use ultrasound equipment?

Ultrasound equipment is used during pregnancy to produce 3-D images of the fetus, and help obstetricians to:
Confirm the viability of a fetus
Determine the fetus’ gestational age and size
Locate the fetus, and determine whether the pregnancy is uterine or ectopic
Check for multiple fetuses
Determine the sex of the baby
Assess the growth of the fetus
Check for the heartbeat and fetal movements

While ultrasound machines are typically used to produce a keepsake of the child, the American Medical Association strongly discourages the use of excessive “vanity” ultrasounds during pregnancy. Compared to the ultrasound images of the past, today’s ultrasound machines can produce 3-D images that are very lifelike, which has created a demand for more ultrasound testing, but it is ill-advised for a pregnant woman to undergo more ultrasound testing than what her doctor determines as medically necessary.