Sonora Medical Systems
of Longmont, Colorado, a DOTmed 100 company and leading supplier of after-market products, services and test equipment to the medical imaging market, and Medical Diagnostic Technologies (MDT) of Las Vegas, Nevada, a leader in the development of computer aided detection (CAD) products, announce a joint development project that will bring to market a novel and sophisticated test device designed to troubleshoot diagnostic ultrasound systems.

The new device, known as FirstAssist, will be commercially available in the United States during the summer of 2007. It will cost approximately $20,000. The device will test all imaging and Doppler modalities of the ultrasound system and analyze signals displayed on the ultrasound monitor for various operational characteristics claimed by the OEM in their published system specifications. FirstAssist will connect to ultrasounds in the same spot into which probes are normally plugged and will work with laptop computers.


FirstAssist will serve as corollary to Sonora's popular ultrasound probe-testing device FirstCall, which is currently used by more than 100 hospitals nationwide.

"Sonora has for years led the industry in developing and commercializing electro-acoustic test devices designed to test the performance of, and troubleshoot, advanced diagnostic ultrasound systems," says G. Wayne Moore, President and CEO of Sonora Medical. "This new product will obviate the need for hospitals to rely upon the ultrasound Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) for after warranty service contracts thereby saving the hospital tens-of-thousands of dollars annually. The combination of Sonora's hardware design and the sophisticated image processing algorithms developed by MDT will set a new standard in ultrasound quality control and really empower hospital Biomedical Engineers to troubleshoot and effect repair on even the most technologically intense ultrasound system," Moore continued.

James Benson of MDT notes, "Having created CAD for the early detection of prostate cancer as well as other important clinical applications it was a natural extension to direct our technology into the rapidly growing area of ultrasound quality control and service. We are excited to work on the development of this product with Sonora, the recognized world leader in the field of ultrasound test equipment."

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