· Professional Soccer Team Chooses Award-Winning z.one System
· Windows Printing Solution for Ultrasound
· Siemens Launches New Ultrasound Application at ESC

Professional Soccer Team Chooses Award-Winning z.one System

C Dallas, a charter member club of Major League Soccer, is the first professional soccer team to utilize compact convertible ultrasound technology from ZONARE Medical Systems, Mountain View, Calif. Team physician Christopher Siodlarz, DIO, uses the company’s z.one ultrasound system, a premium convertible ultrasound platform, to quickly assess potential muscle and tendon injuries.

“When I was working in physical medicine and rehabilitation in Chicago, I often employed ultrasound imaging versus more expensive and time-consuming imaging modalities such as MRI,” Siodlarz said. “When I came to Dallas to become medical director for FC, I knew ultrasound would be extremely important in this environment. What I needed, however, was a compact system with premium image quality and configuration flexibility.”

FC Dallas is the first professional soccer team to use ZONARE Medical Systems’ z.one ultrasound system.

Siodlarz chose ZONARE’s z.one system, based on proprietary Zone Sonography technology, which converts at the push of a button from a full-featured cart-based configuration into a premium compact ultrasound unit. The z.one system won the 2007 Medical Imaging Product Innovation of the Year Award from global growth consulting company Frost & Sullivan.

“We are pleased to announce that our distinguished panel of judges, comprised of some of the region’s most influential decision-makers and industry leaders, has selected ZONARE for this prestigious innovation award,” said Reenita Das, vice president of the Asia Pacific Healthcare Practice of Frost & Sullivan. “z.one Sonography is not just an improvement of current ultrasound systems, but a breakthrough that could push ultrasound into a new technological forefront. Coupled with the z.one ultrasound platform, the industry may see changes to ultrasound as we currently know it.”

z.one Sonography’s software-based architecture allows its performance to continue to improve as greater processing power becomes available; upgrades can be downloaded via the Internet, allowing clinicians to cost-effectively maintain a state-of-the-art system.

“During home games, I use the z.one ultrasound system in its cart-based configuration since the clinic is next to the field,” Siodlarz said. “However, I often go to different clinic locations and multiple training venues, which allows me to optimize the portable scan engine. The z.one ultrasound system is easy to use, provides premium image quality, and its optimization features are very helpful. I also find its upgradeability for new applications extremely important as the technology advances.”

Siodlarz is also a spine interventional specialist at Baylor Health Center, where he uses the z.one system to visualize needle guidance for carefully targeted injections.

“This system provides great clinical utility and economic value,” he said. “I encourage other MLS team doctors to consider it as a standard for the league. It is imperative that we keep our players healthy, which translates to acting quickly in confidently diagnosing and treating an injury. The z.one fits especially well into this scenario.”

—Cat Vasko

Windows Printing Solution for Ultrasound

sPrint runs on a standard PC and communicates with the ultrasound via a video cable.

New from Ashva Technologies Ltd, Plymouth, Minn, is a Windows-based printing solution for ultrasound, the sPrint system. sPrint runs on a standard PC and communicates with the ultrasound device via a video cable; it can be loaded on any PC that meets standard specifications, making it highly versatile.

sPrint allows the user to capture black-and-white or color images from an ultrasound machine; define a layout, choosing how many images will be printed per page (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, or 12); and then print the report on customized center-specific letterhead, creating a professional image report for distribution to referrers.

“This solution is useful for someone who just wants to print on a normal Windows printer and likes to have multiple images per page,” said Mohan Mysore, CEO of Ashva. “It saves on the cost of the thermal printer, and also produces great-quality images.”

The easy two-step sPrint process is rapid and efficient, and the low cost of printing and producing reports on a standard printer makes it easy to achieve return on investment for the product, which is priced under $500, Mysore said.

—C. Vasko

Siemens Launches New Ultrasound Application at ESC

At the annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), which was held in early September in Vienna, Siemens Medical Solutions, Malvern, Pa, introduced a new application for ultrasound: the syngo Arterial Health Package (AHP). The syngo AHP calculates cardiovascular risks by measuring the carotid intima media thickness and determining the “vascular age” of the patient.

Based on an ultrasound examination of the carotid artery, the syngo? Arterial Health Package software can calculate a parameter called vascular age.

Combining information from syngo AHP with other data, like cholesterol values and blood pressure, physicians can make more accurate assessments of a patient’s myocardial or stroke-related risk and establish an individual prevention and treatment plan.

Vascular age is the advance of the atherosclerotic burden in a patient; this information can help the physician determine the patient’s risk of developing coronary heart disease. By measuring the innermost layer of the carotid vessel wall, syngo AHP can detect abnormal widening, evidence of threatening or already existing atherosclerosis. Siemens’ syngo AHP also takes into account the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities database to determine the risk index from the Framingham Heart Study, using the relative vascular age rather than the patient’s chronological age.

This combination of factors enables a more accurate determination of risk for up to 60% of patients. “Our syngo AHP is a visual tool for the physician that allows him to display and explain to the patient the actual status of his vessels,” said Klaus Hambeuchen, head of the ultrasound division at Siemens. “As users in the USA reported, the tool proved to be highly advantageous in convincing patients to change their lifestyle.”

Syngo AHP is available on the ACUSON Sequoia C512, Antares, X500, X300, and CV 70; it also recently became available offline on the syngo ultrasound workplace.

—C. Vasko