New miniature ultrasound puts power in docs’ hands

In a technology game-changer for doctors, GE Healthcare just launched its latest ultrasound — which is now smaller than a laptop computer but without sacrificing the image quality found in traditional bulky systems. The new Venue 40 allows doctors to immediately use ultrasounds right at a patient’s bedside — or in a space-constrained and frenzied trauma bay. Especially critical in emergency situations, its high image resolution means doctors get the most accurate shot the first time without having to search for the clearest one during many takes. As Dr. Jeff Swenson, Director of Anesthesia at the University of Utah Orthopaedic Center in Salt Lake City says in the video below, “In my opinion the Venue 40 has changed regional anesthesia to such a degree that we would consider not performing surgery if we didn’t have our ultrasound machine up and running.”

GE's Venue 40 minature ultrasound technology.

Dr. Swenson says that 60-70 percent of their patients have procedures that involve significant post-operative pain — and many are so compromised that general anesthesia can’t be applied. So-called “regional” anesthesia must then be used, which is why an ultrasound is so critical if they are to quickly and painlessly find an injection point in often-difficult locations. “Heretofore, we had to position a needle blindly,” he says. “Now we can actually see the nerve and position our needle in a position that we know is going to be successful.” By using the Venue 40, Dr. Swenson says they can save an average of $4,000 to $5,000 per hospital admission for certain types of surgery.

Likewise, Dr. Joshua Hackel of The Andrews Institute of sports medicine in Gulf Breeze, Fla. says that because of its high image resolution, they are now using the Venue 40 to evaluate patients on their first visits rather than using traditional X-rays or waiting on an MRI. As a result, it’s not only improved patient care, but “the Venue 40 is going to be critical in saving healthcare dollars,” Dr. Hackel says. “No longer do we have to rely on our clinical experience. We can have objective data to assist us in putting patients back to work or back to play as quickly as possible.”

The so-called “point of care” ultrasound setting for which the Venue 40 was designed is the fastest growing around the world. In the U.S., point of care applications grew an average of 30 percent per year over the past four years, as cited in a recent 2008 industry report issued by Klein Biomedical Consultants, an internationally recognized source of ultrasound market trends.

The technology is part of GE’s new healthymagination business strategy, which is about driving efficiencies in healthcare through technology that helps yield more rapid diagnosis, improved patient experiences, increased access and better outcomes. The Venue 40 is the first new-to-market product validated as part of healthymagination.

* Read today’s announcement
* Learn more about the Venue 40 and download a fact sheet.
* Read our series on the role “Reverse Innovation” has on technologies such as the Venue 40
* Read “GE systems boost cancer center case capacity by 900” on GE Reports
* Read “GE works on better treatments for breast cancer” on GE Reports
* Read “Vital signs to go wireless with GE’s body sensors” on GE Reports
* Read “A view with some room: GE’s wider MR scanner”
* Read about GE’s work with clinics in India
* Read GE Reports’ coverage of the healthymagination launch
* Read about GE’s Electronic Medical Records technology
* Read about our healthymagination work in Bangladesh