Zonare Medical Systems will show hardware and software advances for its z.one ultrasound system. In addition, the Mountain View, CA, company will display upgrades addressing complete auto-optimization of 2D images, spectral Doppler enhancements, and wireless connectivity.
Zonare's Auto-Opt with ZST option is designed to equalize tissue gain and brightness in real-time with the touch of a button, allowing a user to optimize ultrasound images to automatically adjust for a patient's individual body sound propagation characteristics. The technique also helps direct a clinician's focus on clinical issues rather than system controls, reduces hand motion, and shortens exam time, the company said.
Another new feature, Auto-Doppler Trace, automatically traces the spectral Doppler waveform at the touch of a button. Auto-Doppler Trace information is derived from the original Doppler data, and is independent of any spectral Doppler postprocessing parameters, such as gain and dynamic range. The feature affords the user an accurate Doppler tracing on a waveform that is not optimized, and users can configure the feature to display various calculations that are updated by either heartbeats or time.
Zonare's new transducers -- P4-1c and L12-5sp -- are intended to enhance imaging capabilities and applications for both the full-featured cart-based configuration of z.one and the premium, portable compact version.
P4-1c is a phased-array transducer that is designed for transcranial, abdominal vascular, and basic cardiac imaging, and has a combination of 12 frequencies within modes ranging from 2D and M-mode, tissue harmonics, color/power Doppler, and pulsed-wave Doppler.
The L12-5sp linear-array transducer provides a narrow footprint with high-frequency imaging for intraoperative vessel scanning, needle and catheter guidance, musculoskeletal applications, and superficial vein mapping.
Zonare also will introduce a new miniCart option for the z.one's scan engine. The customized, ergonomic mobile platform holds and secures z.one's scan engine and offers a full-size QWERTY keyboard for enhanced annotation and patient data entry. A flat-panel monitor is also available that expands from 41 inches at its lowest configuration (monitor down) to 61 inches at its highest (monitor up).
Finally, Zonare will rollout an internal hard drive for the z.one system, which will provide storage capabilities directly within the scan engine itself, which is wireless-ready.
All of Zonare's new products and upgrades are currently available.
By Wayne Forrest
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
October 27, 2006
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