Acuson P50: laptop-based ultrasound system for POC-use.
The Acuson P50 is a new laptop-based ultrasound system from Siemens Medical Solutions. Presented at the MEDICA 2007, the portable ultrasound system was specially designed for mobile applications in cardiology, as well as vascular applications and use in anaesthesiology departments or operating theatres.
Providing superb image resolution in B-mode and in colour Doppler-mode, the Acuson P50 also includes an integrated stress echo function. Several cardiac applications are integrated in the system as well, like syngo Auto Left Heart, syngo Velocity Vector Imaging (VVU) and syngo Arterial Health Package (AHP), which enables to determine a patient’s vascular age.
Besides providing excellent ultrasound images, Siemens Medical Solutions’ new system also gives users a number of tools for image post-processing, typing protocols or to access the Internet. Multitasking-functionality enables the physician a more flexible use as he could view other images or clarify abnormalities before making a diagnosis.
The P50 is built off an Apple MacBook laptop with 2 GB RAM, a 160 GB hard disk and a 2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Pentium M processor. It offers a battery-life on up to two hours, suiting it perfectly for the use in emergency situations. With a weight of slightly more than 5 kilograms the system can be easily transported to the Point-of-Care (POC) in a laptop bag. When not being used as an ultrasound system, the Acuson P50 is still a regular laptop being able to run common office-applications.
This article was published on 11/15/2007