Siemens Healthcare has announced that P3 Medical will be distributing the ACUSON Freestyle, its innovative wireless ultrasound system, to operating room (OR) and anaesthetic departments across the UK.
The first part of its marketing strategy was a launch to anaesthesiologists at the Churchill War Rooms in London. The event featured speakers from the University of Dundee and Papworth Hospital, the first users of the system in the UK, who spoke to delegates about their experiences.
The ACUSON Freestyle has wireless, cable-free transducers which provide infection control benefits and can be operated up to three metres from the system for maximum freedom and ease-of-use. Three different types of wireless transducer have been developed for the system, covering a wide range of imaging procedures. These integrate control over image settings, freeing staff that would otherwise be needed to operate controls.
Graeme Houston, professor of clinical imaging and intervention at University of Dundee spoke at the event about his experience of the Freestyle: “We have been using the Freestyle for many procedures such as biopsies, drainages, vascular occlusion and embolisations. The sterile transducers have been very useful, negating the need to wrap wires and significantly lowering the contamination risk in the interventional environment. We see the key advantages as size, mobility, image display, sterility, ergonomics and excellent image quality.”
Florian Falter, consultant anaesthetist at Papworth Hospital is the first to use the Freestyle system for anaesthetic and intensive care as well as intra-operative procedures: “The ease-of-use of the ACUSON Freestyle has been a great advantage with a set up that enables a scrub nurse to follow a cardiac case and set up the probe at the same time. The probe is ready to use quickly and you can get a very good image of the aorta so you can see clearly where plaques are sitting. Overall, ease of set up, image quality and versatility are the key benefits of the Freestyle.”
Simon Talbot, managing director at P3 Medical commented: “We are pleased to work in conjunction with Siemens Healthcare to launch the ACUSON Freestyle to anaesthesiologists. This innovative technology will have a huge impact on the market.”
David Wilkins, divisional director, clinical products at Siemens Healthcare added: “It has been great to hear the first clinical experiences of the ACUSON Freestyle at Papworth and Dundee and how the wireless technology is supporting customers. We look forward to working with P3 Medical and the benefits that the ACUSON Freestyle will offer in the OR marketplace.”