GE HealthCare announces that its Venue Family point-of-care ultrasound systems will now feature Caption Guidance, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technology that provides real-time guidance to users for capturing diagnostic-quality cardiac images.
The Venue Family is the first among GE HealthCare ultrasound products to incorporate this scan guidance technology following the company’s acquisition of Caption Health earlier this year. Caption Guidance is an optional add-on that offers new capabilities at the point of care, supporting clinicians in a wide range of clinical settings and practices such as emergency departments, critical care wards, and anesthesiology.
AI-driven Caption Guidance technology gives clinicians step-by-step instructions to acquire ultrasound images for cardiac assessments. This can help providers, even those who are not experts in ultrasound, by addressing training and skill barriers to ultrasound usage, thereby expanding ultrasound access. This can potentially enable early detection of signs of heart disease in at-risk patients, which may ultimately help improve clinical outcomes with early intervention to slow disease progression and potentially prevent hospitalizations.
“Venue Family ultrasound systems support clinical decision-making at the point of care, including the emergency department, offering simple, fast and precise solutions. With the integration of Caption Guidance AI-driven software, these devices can enhance cardiac care and reduce the burden on sonographers and radiology departments by giving more clinicians the ability to perform scans and triage patients,” says Dietmar Seifriedsberger, global general manager, point of care and handheld ultrasound at GE HealthCare.
“The AI software is expected to increase the number of clinicians who can successfully and confidently conduct cardiac ultrasound scans, which is especially useful in emergency or critical care settings where demand is high and accuracy is essential,” Seifriedsberger adds.
Caption Guidance on the Venue Family point-of-care ultrasound systems is available in the United States. GE HealthCare plans to integrate the AI technology into other ultrasound systems, including handheld systems, helping to further expand access to diagnostic care as well as the use of ultrasound in a variety of care settings.
“We recognize the potential of Caption Health AI in revolutionizing ultrasound access and have worked quickly to deliver on integrating this promising technology to improve patient care,” says Karley Yoder, chief digital officer, ultrasound at GE HealthCare.
“Within a few months of the Caption Health acquisition, we have successfully launched Caption Guidance as a powerful new guidance tool on our Venue Family ultrasound systems, enabling efficient and confident use of ultrasound at the point of care and strengthening our integrated products and solutions. We remain committed to making an impact with this technology and plan to expand its use to maternal, fetal, and pulmonary diseases,” Yoder adds.
