Vascular specialists at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust are benefiting from improvements in diagnostics following the procurement of hand-held ultrasound systems.
The trust is now using SonoSite’s M Turbo and MicroMaxx technology to enhance diagnostics and treatment at its vascular centre at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital.
Corinna Gomm, clinical vascular scientist at the trust, said: “These systems are situated in both outpatient clinics – where their main uses are for scanning aortas, surveillance of abdominal aortic aneurysms and for assessing veins prior to treatment – and in theatre, for ultrasound-guided treatment such as radiofrequency ablation of varicose veins.
“An M-Turbo device is also being used at Good Hope Hospital and at Solihull Hospital and has proved very capable of supporting satellite outpatient work when needed. I also use it on the wards to perform carotid and leg arterial duplexes. The equipment is robust, easy to use and the image is really clear, allowing me to perform intricate scans.”
The system can produce grey scale, colour and Doppler images and, as it can penetrate down to 20cm, is sensitive even when scanning larger patients.
Gomm said: “The advanced needle visualisation feature is popular with our consultants when performing ultrasound-guided interventions and minimal training was required as the systems are quite intuitive.”
