The Neurosurgical Critical Care Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield has taken delivery of its first FUJIFILM SonoSite X-Porte point-of-care ultrasound system, giving staff the ability to perform transthoracic echocardiograms (TTEs) on demand.
Dr David Turnbull, a consultant anaesthetist specialising in neurosurgical care, said: “Bedside TTE is becoming increasingly commonplace in a critical care setting, providing valuable information about a patient’s pre- or post-operative condition that can help to direct their care. Previously, we have relied on borrowing a portable instrument from the radiology or cardiology departments, but the systems are in high demand, making availability an issue.”
He added: “When we looked at purchasing our own instrument, we asked the radiology department for a recommendation and they performed a side-by-side comparison between the X¬Porte and two portable instruments from another manufacturer. Despite the sonographer having no previous experience with SonoSite equipment, the X¬Porte was the clear winner in terms of image quality and ease of use. The large screen makes it easy to see the structures of interest – it is really well thought through and easily tips and tilts to the right angle – and the probes are very robust. The system is really simple to operate and the built-in educational package is very good. It’s like having a tutor sat next to you.”
“The X-Porte has ticked all the boxes for us for developing an in-house transthoracic echocardiogram service for the unit. We now have an intuitive piece of equipment that anyone can use and, so far, I’ve not heard a single negative comment about it.”
