Precision Imaging Ultrasound Software Provides High Image Clarity and Resolution

New imaging software has been developed that acquires ultrasound images of unprecedented clarity and resolution, enabling users to see more clinical detail than ever before.

To help leading healthcare institutions increase productivity while improving patient care in diagnostic imaging, Toshiba Medical Systems (Tokyo, Japan) has introduced Precision Imaging technology available on the Aplio XG ultrasound system.

Precision Imaging technology increases productivity and diagnostic effectiveness by providing more detailed ultrasound images. As a multiresolution signal processing technology, it not only evaluates images line-by-line, but also includes information from adjacent lines to enhance the amount of data obtained. Conventional ultrasound systems acquire images line-by-line only and do not consider information from adjacent lines. As Toshiba-exclusive software, Precision Imaging's ability to capture information from multiple lines improves the definition of the structure, provides more detail, and minimizes noise and clutter. This approach enables clinicians to determine if the signal is part of a structure or an anomaly from one line.

"Precision Imaging software shows greater definition of structures and reduces noise to produce high quality ultrasound images,” explained Dr. Edward G. Grant, M.D., professor and chairman of radiology, the University of Southern California (USC) Medical School (Los Angeles, USA), who evaluated the new technology throughout the past two months. "Compared to other ultrasound imaging technologies, Precision Imaging shows better contrast and delineation of lesions, vessels, and other objects. It enhances our capability to evaluate difficult to image areas and improves diagnoses.”

Precision Imaging is beneficial for head-to-toe scanning. It improves the ability to show subtle tissue differences and image small structures better than conventional imaging. It clearly shows contrast boundaries between tissue and lesions, visualizes vessel walls, and enhances true color borders in difficult to image areas. It is useful for imaging breast lesions, superficial regions, small parts, the abdomen, spleen, liver, and thyroid.

"Toshiba is committed to developing imaging technology that not only improves patient care and safety, but also enhances workflow and productivity,” said Girish Hagan, vice president, marketing, Toshiba. "Precision Imaging does just that. It provides unprecedented ultrasound image clarity and resolution, which enables our customers to view more clinical detail using a single imaging technique, faster, and better than before.”

Precision Imaging is available on the Toshiba Aplio XG. The first deliveries to customers were scheduled for July 2009.

The next-generation Aplio XG ultrasound system provides several enhancements that improve productivity, increase diagnostic confidence, facilitate connectivity, and enhance ergonomics. Upgrade enhancements include new four-dimensional (4D) technology, which allows users to acquire volume data sets for subsequent, off-line review. The Aplio XG's 3D multislice view delivers sequential imaging with a presentation format similar to computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR). Moreover, slice thickness and the number of images displayed can be selected by the user. A new ergo-optimized control panel and 19-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) also have been added to increase user comfort. The Aplio XG also is IHE- (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise)-compliant for improved connectivity and workflow.

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