Siemens Healthcare has launched the ACUSON Freestyle ultrasound system featuring wireless transducers to eliminate the impediment of cables in ultrasound imaging.
The launch, at the 98th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, brings to the market a large number of innovations, including acoustics, system architecture, radio design, miniaturisation and image processing.
Transducer cables have always been a cumbersome necessity in ultrasound imaging. Not only are they an impediment to fast and ergonomic examination procedures, but they also present an infection control risk in sterile interventional settings, even when they are covered in sterile sheaths. The ACUSON Freestyle system will expand the use of ultrasound in interventional and therapeutic applications, where the technology provides numerous workflow and image quality advantages.
“Siemens Healthcare is the first company to introduce an ultrasound system that enables clinicians to work with cable-free transducers,” said Bernadette Leonard, UK business manager of ultrasound and echocardiology products at Siemens Healthcare.
Siemens Healthcare is the first company to introduce an ultrasound system that enables clinicians to work with cable-free transducers
“This is an exciting innovation for ultrasound and the ACUSON Freestyle facilitates the use of advanced ultrasound technology into clinical fields requiring a sterile environment, such as interventional radiology, anaesthesiology, critical care, cath labs, or emergency care settings. Wireless transducers can also expand ultrasound into new and emerging applications, such as administering nerve blocks, enhancing vascular access, and improving target localisation through ultrasound guidance during therapeutic interventions and biopsies.”
The new system employs advanced synthetic aperture imaging technology. This is an integration of proprietary hardware and software specifically developed for the wireless signal transmission of full-resolution digital image data at very high data rates. Focusing on each pixel in the image, this method produces excellent image quality throughout the field of view. The design reduces the transducer’s power requirements, increasing battery life. Wireless real-time ultrasound data transmission is further enabled through the proprietary development of ultra-wideband radio technology, which operates at a high frequency of 7.8 gigahertz and is not susceptible to interference with other electronic equipment.
Three wireless transducers are available, covering a range of general imaging, vascular, and high-frequency applications such as musculoskeletal and nerve imaging. The user can operate the transducers up to 3m away from the system, which includes an ergonomic interface that enables remote control of scanning parameters from within the sterile field. The ACUSON Freestyle system has a 38cm, high-resolution LED display and the console can be mounted easily on a lightweight cart and also operates on battery power.