This week at RSNA, GE Healthcare announced several enhancements to its ultrasound product line and introduced the LOGIQ S8, a new ultrasound unit that is a less expensive alternative to its predecessor-the LOGIQ E9.

The LOGIQ S8 is smaller and lightweight, making it easier to transport and fit inside small rooms. It is ideal for vascular, breast, abdomen, cardiology, and musculoskeletal imaging, and it produces clear, high-quality images for most body types, including obese patients.

"We have kept most of the excellent image performance of the LOGIQ E9, so now users don't have to worry that they might be bringing a second class offering to their portable patients," Paul Mullen, GE's chief marketing officer of ultrasound, tells DOTmed News in an email.

LOGIQ S8 features a software called Scan Assistant, which allows technologists to program to more efficiently image different parts of the body. For example, setting up the procedure to image a shoulder, the unit will calculate and plan for imaging through skin, fat, muscle to bone, whereas an abdominal image acquisition will calculate for fluids that will have to be considered. By setting the parameters in advance, technicians only need to put the transducer onto the patient and let the machine do the work. "We call it ploppable ultrasound," says Mullen.

GE has also made noteworthy improvements to its existing ultrasound products, such as the LOGIQ E9, LOGIQ P6, LOGIQ e and Venue 40. "GE continues its tradition of nearly annual upgrades to its platforms, advancing the key values of cost, quality and access," says Mullen.

In addition, GE's Voluson E8 ultrasound system now uses HD Live, which creates images that offer a higher level of detail than anyone familiar with ultrasound would expect to see. That increased detail could enable a radiologist interpreting a fetal exam to more easily detect problems with a developing fetus and start treatments at an earlier time.

More RSNA 2011

More Industry Headlines