The Acuson Antares, Premium Edition, from Siemens Medical Solutions is said by the company to offer a breakthrough in breast ultrasound technology.
Using Siemens’ real-time, free-hand elasticity imaging technique, Dr Barr studied 166 breast lesions identified and scheduled for biopsy in 99 patients. The lesions were analysed first using standard ultrasound and then using ultrasound with the new elasticity software. The benign lumps appeared smaller using elasticity compared with the standard ultrasound images, but the malignant lumps appeared larger on the elasticity image than with the standard, thus demonstrating that the technique could be used in confirmatory cancer diagnosis.
“This technique could significantly reduce the number of biopsies and increase the confidence of women that a detected lesion is truly benign,” said Dr Barr.
The Antares system will also be equipped with Advanced SieClear Spatial Compounding and Dynamic Tissue Contrast Enhancement, providing improved contrast resolution and image presentation in all examinations. The new fetal assessment application includes syngo Auto OB measurements and Advanced fourSight technology, providing broad 3D/4D acquisition, rendering and post-processing functionality.
The High Performance Imaging release for the Acuson Sequoia ultrasound system also includes the new Advanced SieClear Spatial Compounding technology with Dynamic TCE capabilities. In addition, two new transducers will be available which are said to deliver unprecedented detail in imaging of small parts, breast and subtle pathologies. Vascular imaging may be undertaken with a one-transducer solution that addresses cerebrovascular, peripheral arterial and deep venous imaging. New advanced clinical applications will also be available enabling rapid 3D evaluation of mitral valve morphology and pathology.
Also available is the Acuson X300 ultrasound system, which has been engineered to provide uncompromised diagnostic performance, normally found only on premium systems.
