GE Healthcare announced last week commercial availability of its new Voluson E10 ultrasound system in the U.S., Europe and Japan. It received FDA approval in June but GE spent some time making sure that the images met the requirements of U.S. patients.

This new system is GE's most powerful system to date — it has four times the processing power, 10 times the data processing capabilities and four times the ultrasound pathways. It includes a curved matrix electronic 4-D probe, which GE claims is only available in this system, as well as a new generation of their HDlive technology.

The electronic 4-D technology is a big step up from mechanical probes. "We can image at faster volume rates, it allows us to get better image quality and gives us more flexibility with the imaging," Barbara Del Prince, global managing director for ultrasound products at GE, told DOTmed News.

GE introduced HDlive in 2011, which gave physicians access to very realistic 3-D and 4-D images. It does that by using a moveable light source that enhances background shadows, which in turn increases depth perception.

GE took that technology a step further this year with the introduction of HDlive Silhouette and HDlive Flow. The Silhouette technology gives the physicians more flexibility to show internal and external structures and the Flow technology combines the HDlive technology with 3-D and 4-D color Doppler images.

"One of the trends that we definitely see in medical ultrasound is that patients are more educated and they want to understand the health of their pregnancy sooner," said Del Prince. "Allowing them to be able to see the embryo this clearly early in pregnancy, I think, gives them that comfort that they are looking for."

It also allows them to more clearly understand conversations with physicians about any potential problems with their pregnancy.

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