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ULTRASOUND EDUCATION ULTRASOUND FAQ'sULTRASOUND BUYER'S GUIDE WHAT'S NEW IN ULTRASOUND  BEST BUYS CURRENT SPECIALS PARTS SPECIALS LEASING & FINANCING |
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Ultrasound Education Center Ultrasound Machine Frequent Questions |
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What is Ultrasound? What is a "Doppler" ultrasound? What is a "Shared Service" or "Full Body" ultrasound? What is Phased Array vs. Annular Array? Why do I use a 2.0 MHz probe for the heart, but a 7.0 MHz probe for the carotid artery? What is CrossXBeam and SonoCT? Will my machine be outdated next year? DICOM FAQs for Ultrasounds What does DICOM allow me to do? What is DICOM? Is DICOM a Good Thing? Are some manufacturer's DICOM solutions better than others? Can I get a DICOM converter on my ultrasound instead of purchasing a DICOM-compatible ultrasound? Will all DICOM-compatible systems allow me to print or store to a network? What is the difference between Digital and Analog? Does Digital equate to better image quality, like HDTV? What does all of this mean to me? What's the difference between DICOM 2.0 and DICOM 3.0? Where can I view the DICOM standard? What is Ultrasound? All ultrasounds operate on one principle: Sound. Ultrasound technology is used to view tissue and fluid inside the body using sound waves that are sent and received at ultrasonic frequencies. Ultrasounds "see" things very similarly to how bats "see" at night. A high-pitched sound frequency is sent and received. The time it takes for that echo to return to the source can be used to determine the distance between the source of the signal and the source of the echo. The ultrasound "scan converter" then converts these sound signals into an image that is visualized on a monitor. Back to the top. What is a "Doppler" ultrasound? Doppler technology in an ultrasound uses the fact that sound waves approaching an object are compressed (producing a higher frequency), and sound waves traveling away from an object are spread out (producing a lower frequency). This technology can be used for many purposes, some of which include: listening to a heart, determining blood flow velocity, and using the sound of the blood flow to show color in an ultrasound image. Back to the top. What is a "Shared Service" or "Full Body" ultrasound? Shared Services are simply ultrasounds that have software, calculations, and presets for all applications. Typically, a Shared Service unit would be considered a unit that does Cardiac, Vascular, and OB/GYN as these are the major categories of applications. In addition, Shared Service systems are typically more expensive from manufacturers such as ATL, Acuson, Siemens, or GE, as each of these applications requires separate licensing for the software and transducers. Back to the top. What is Phased Array vs. Annular Array? Phased Array is what most new systems use on their systems today. They're considered "electronic" transducers that have 64 or more "elements" that send and receive sound signals into the body. "Annular Array", is in the family of mechanical transducers that have one-to-three elements that physically move within the scanhead. You'll still find annular arrays on some mobile systems today. Back to the top. Why do I use a 2.0 MHz probe for the heart, but a 7.0 MHz probe for the carotid artery? Lower frequencies (such as 2 MHz) are used to produce images deep in the body; higher frequencies (such as 7 MHz) are used for more superficial work (for better image quality). This is because higher frequencies produce better image quality, however, they cannot travel deep in the body. It's called "attenuation", which is the same reason you'll hear the bass sound of a teenager's stereo and not the treble signals when he drives by. Higher frequencies don't travel as well as the lower frequencies. Hence, you need the 2.0 MHz (lower frequency probe) to image the heart, but a 7.0 MHz (higher frequency probe) to image the carotid. In addition, sound does not travel well through air (lungs) nor does it travel well through bone. So a cardiac study needs a low-frequency probe (2.5 or 2.0 MHz) because it has to travel deep into the body and it has to travel through the lungs (which contain air). Stress Echo: Stress Echo is a procedure in which a patient has his heart imaged before and after exercise. Typically this involves storing an image of the patient's heart at a resting pace, then after walking on the treadmill for several minutes and recording another image of the heart. The Stress Echo Module records and stores these images and allows the user to view them on a split screen on the system's monitor. The Stress Echo unit that performs this is either part of the internal ultrasound system, a computer that is attached to the ultrasound system and set up to view through the ultrasound's monitor, or a completely separate system ("offline") that has its own computer and monitor. A major advantage for integrated stress echo is that there is no need for extra hardware in the exam room, most of which have cramped quarters when a treadmill, exam table, and ultrasound are already in the room.Back to the top. What is CrossXBeam and SonoCT? These are similar technologies developed by General Electric and Philips (ATL) that allow the transducer to see in more than one direction. Traditional ultrasound probes send signals into the body directly out of the probe (perpendicular to the flat or curvature of the probe). These technologies send signals in up to 9 different directions, allowing the machine to eliminate artifacts by viewing the same thing from a different angleŠ it lets the probe "see around corners" per se. Back to the top. Will my machine be outdated next year? Ultrasound technologies aren't really moving very fast, although it sure seems like it. There are a lot of new additions, but most are surrounding productivity or are for very specific applications. The biggest change we're seeing is that all machines are getting smaller and are more software-driven than hardware driven. Newer machines are running on Windows 2000 and Windows XP as opposed to proprietary operating systems, Linux, and UNIX. We're seeing Wi-Fi, Flash drives, voice recognition, and more computer technologies being added, as well as powerful laptop-sized ultrasounds. Higher end technologies are also crunching down to a lower price range because all the major manufacturers have bought out their smaller competitors. To drive revenues, they're releasing more products in more price ranges. All that said, we still sell machines that are more than 20 years old. Ultrasound is Ultrasound. Those not needing Wi-Fi, CrossXBeam and voice recognition don't have to pay for itŠ but they are seeing the benefits from it by increasingly lower prices on older used equipment. So if something 20 years old isn't really outdated yetŠ something from 1999 really won't be either. Back to the top. What does DICOM allow me to do? DICOM-compatible medical equipment allows you to connect your medical equipment, printers, and computers to a network. With this network, all connected machines can use the same printers, patient data, store images, and review images from anywhere on the network. Back to the top. What is DICOM? DICOM—in its simplest form—is a set of rules by which all machines on a network must follow in order to communicate with one another. What's that mean? Say the European Union would like to come up with a Language Standard, such as German. The standard would say that, while everyone can speak their native language in their own environment, in order to go to European Union functions they must speak German. By doing this, they ensure that all parties involved can communicate with one another, and the moderator will always be clear on what is being said. Now apply that to medical imaging: Dr. Bill's Practice has an MRI from GE, Ultrasound from Acuson, and CT from Toshiba. He has a computer network and would like all machines to print to a network printer, retrieve patient information from the network, store all images on the server, and review images from all machines on a single workstation. If all units are DICOM-compliant, all units are speaking the "same language". This means the Printer understands what the Ultrasound, CT, and MRI are telling it... as does the network server and the reviewing station. If the systems were not DICOM-compliant, communication between machines would be near impossible. The situation would require a very large investment into third-party tools, software, hardware, and expensive Information Technology professionals and programmers. Back to the top. Is DICOM a good thing? Yes. For many, it's a very good thing. DICOM makes a once-impossible task VERY possible. For some offices, however, it may not be practical to set up an entire DICOM office due to the costs and overhead of maintaining such a system. Back to the top. Are some manufacturer's DICOM solutions better than others? Yes. If speed matters to you, look for a digital system with DICOM networking capabilities. Otherwise, you'll have a system that must wait for a converter to change the image from analog to digital. Back to the top. Can I get a DICOM converter on my ultrasound instead? Yes. A DICOM converter takes your ultrasound image to a DICOM-compatible format. It's typically slow, but some products perform the task well. It can also be less expensive than upgrading your machine. Back to the top. Will all DICOM-compatible systems allow me to print or store to a network? No. Each manufacturer has different upgrades to their DICOM systems. You typically need to pay for each option (these options are typically print, store, and worklist). Back to the top. What is the difference between Digital and Analog on my ultrasound? This is essentially the same idea as VHS or CD/DVD. Digital ultrasound systems that are properly equipped can provide you with more options as to what to do with your data: such as transferring images over a network or write to CD-ROM. In analog, you would store images on VHS and walk it to another machine or reviewing station. Back to the top. Does Digital equate to better image quality, like HDTV? Not necessarily. While it can definitely provide better image quality when a system has high processing power, there are many digital systems out there that have worse image quality. While a bad analog signal will provide "Snow" in your image; a poor digital image will provide you with a "pixilated" image. When an image is pixilated, it the computer is making assumptions missing dataŠ so it fills the spot with what it thinks should be there. In other words, spending more money on a Digital system will not necessarily yield better results. Back to the top. What does all of this mean to me? This depends on what you realistically want to do with your practice. Be sure to look short-term on this. The technology is changing quickly, and more machines are now coming equipped with CD-ROMs and solid, easy-to-use networking capabilities. This will largely improve over the next few years as more systems become PC-based. In a few more years, the used ultrasound market will be filled with PC-based systems that are rock-solid, easy-to-use, and have great image quality. In other words, you may not want to spend the extra money for something that will be outdated by the time you have your network set up. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
HOWEVER...
Back to the top. What's the difference between DICOM 2.0 and DICOM 3.0? There was no such as DICOM 2.0. The first two versions of DICOM were named "ACR-NEMA Digital Imaging and Communications Standard 300-1985." The second version was released in 1988 and was called: NEMA 300-1988. Neither of these standards dealt with systems transferring images in a networked environment. So, when someone tells you a piece of equipment is "DICOM-Compliant", then it is DICOM 3.0-compliant. TIP: There's no such thing as DICOM 2.0 or DICOM 1.0. When they created the DICOM standard, they decided it was such a change from the original ACR-NEMA standards that they'd change the whole name. Besides "ACR-NEMA Digital Imaging and Communications Standard 300-1998" simply wouldn't roll off the tongue as well as "DICOM", would it? Back to the top. Where can I view the DICOM 3.0 standard? The NEMA website has (most of the) complete standard available for review as well as other technical documentation at The NEMA Website Warning: The information on the NEMA site is mostly technical documentation for software developers and network administrators. Back to the top. |
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