GE Healthcare’s New Wireless Pocket-Sized Ultrasound Enables Quick Lung Scans of COVID-19 Patients at POC

GE Healthcare (Chicago, IL, USA) has launched a pocket-sized ultrasound even as the COVID-19 pressure on health systems has made handheld ultrasound an essential tool to quickly image the heart and lungs both in and outside the hospital.

GE Healthcare has unveiled Vscan Air, a cutting-edge, wireless pocket-sized ultrasound that provides crystal clear image quality, whole-body scanning capabilities, and intuitive software - all in the palm of clinicians’ hands. GE Healthcare pioneered the first color pocket-sized ultrasound, Vscan, in 2010 and to date, there are over 30,000 Vscan Family systems in the pockets of clinicians, impacting the care of more than 50 million patients worldwide. The Vscan Air continues the company’s commitment to innovation and transforming the clinical exam by making it easier to acquire high quality ultrasound images.

Today, clinicians worldwide are treating more critically ill patients than ever before with limited staff, time, and resources. Handheld ultrasound has become an essential tool, allowing clinicians to quickly collect images and triage patients while also providing the benefits of portability, cleanability, and workflow efficiency. Several studies show lung ultrasound comparable to both X-ray and CT when examining the lungs of COVID-19 patients.

The Vscan Air ultrasound system is one of the smallest and lightweight handheld ultrasound devices with exceptional image quality and advanced visualization software. It allows for both shallow and deep exams effortlessly with a simple flip of the two-sided probe design (high frequency linear and convex transducer probe), without switching probes in-between or during clinical exams. GE Healthcare’s proprietary SignalMax technology allows for crystal clear imaging capability of larger ultrasound machines in the palm of the hand. Vscan Air’s user-tested design includes software presets for fast scanning, single-button probe for easy image capture and freezing, and intuitive set-up and scan start-up so users can pair the probe and start scanning immediately.

Vscan Air users can seamlessly share auto-anonymized images with patients post-scan. Patient data remains within their network - not the Cloud. Store and share images securely with the systems’ DICOM TLS 1.3 with private client & server certificate support (the most secure method currently available to send patient data over a wireless network for review and storage) without a monthly subscription. Vscan Air offers probe cleanability and durability through military-grade durability standard, ability to withstand drops, and extreme temperatures, water exposure, and high-level disinfection techniques. The system adapts signal processing from high-end console systems into a custom miniaturized chipset. The result is an ultra-compact device that delivers high-intensity ultrasound signals, enabling high-quality imaging and achieving 77% power reduction compared to off-the-shelf Analog Front End components.

“Now more than ever, clinicians need smaller and smarter tools that increase access and efficiency both in and outside of the four walls of the hospital,” said Anders Wold, President and CEO of Global Ultrasound at GE Healthcare. “The Vscan Air exemplifies customer-driven innovation that enables more personalized care for patients worldwide. We pioneered handheld ultrasound when we brought the first pocket-sized ultrasound with color Doppler to market and now we see Vscan Air as delivering on the future of healthcare at a time when ultrasound has proven to be an essential tool at the point of care.”