Aplio™ 500, Toshiba’s flagship ultrasound system, combines advanced visualization capabilities, workflow automation tools, and superior ergonomics, according to the company.
Radiologists interested in improving ultrasound-guided intervention accuracy, minimizing radiation dose to patients and operators, decreasing complication rates, and improving patient convenience should consider Toshiba’s Aplio 500 Ultrasound with Smart Fusion, says Nami Azar, MD, assistant professor of radiology and section head for ultrasound at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland.
According to Toshiba, Tustin, Calif, its Aplio 500 solution offers picture-perfect imaging with advanced visualization features, including Fly Thru and Smart Fusion. Calling it an industry-first technology, Toshiba says that Fly Thru uses 4D ultrasound to “fly through” interiors of ducts and vessels for better exploration of lesions and masses and to assist in planning interventional procedures. The Smart Fusion feature synchronizes CT and ultrasound, helping to locate hard-to-find lesions and aiding in ultrasound-guided biopsies.
Azar believes that “ultrasound fusion will be the standard of practice in the near future,” saying, “Aplio 500 is a compact, easy-to-use unit. Plus, it has the advantage of Smart Fusion and Fly Thru, enabling physicians to better service their patients’ needs.”
In his department at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, clinicians mainly use Smart Fusion for interventional cases. “Overall, it decreases the radiation dose to the patient and enables us to perform ultrasound-guided intervention that we couldn’t do in the past. I think it also will decrease our complication rate,” said Azar.
In terms of this solution’s impact on patient care, Azar says his team, which has been using the Smart Fusion feature for about 5 months, has been able to perform ultrasound-guided biopsies on lesions that they didn’t see with ultrasound—without the need for a CT or MRI.
Before Smart Fusion, his team typically used landmarks to access lesions that they didn’t see—or they had to take a patient for a CT or, on occasion, an MRI—to perform an interventional procedure. Azar notes that this technology is particularly useful when there are multiple lesions in an organ, such as the liver.
Maher Elhihi, senior manager of market development at Toshiba’s ultrasound business unit, notes that typically, if something suspicious is found during a CT procedure, then a biopsy is done under CT guidance.
“With Smart Fusion, now the biopsy can be done under ultrasound guidance. This results in significant reductions in radiation exposure to the patient. In addition, Smart Fusion combines the best in advanced imaging to confidently visualize and biopsy a lesion, thus improving intervention accuracy and reducing patient complication rates,” he said.
In addition to the Smart Fusion feature used by Azar, Toshiba’s Fly Thru technology allows clinicians to look at fluid-filled vessels from the inside out, Elhihi says.
“Conventional 3D looks at anatomy from the outside in. With Fly Thru, we have the ability to look at it from a different perspective—it’s literally like a virtual endoscope,” said Elhihi, who notes that radiologists, OB/GYNs, and cardiologists have been very interested in the Fly Thru technology.
“If we can use Fly Thru and make a confident diagnosis instead of using CT or MRI, that would be a great story from a patient care standpoint and cost perspective,” he said.
