Aegis upgrade spearheads Acuson releases

Acuson of Mountain View,CA, will feature a range of new transducers and upgrades at itsRSNA booth, including the latest release of the vendor's Aegisultrasound image management system.

Aegis 2.0 is designed to provide better networking and archivingabilities to users than the previous version, according to BobHeiligenberg, Aegis marketing manager. Acuson has dispensed withthe digital audio tape (DAT) archiving mechanism formerly usedwith Aegis and replaced it with a magneto-optical disk system,which is of archival quality. Acuson is also developing a DICOM3.0 gateway to link Aegis with other picture archiving and communicationsystems (SCAN 10/26/94).

In transducer technology, Acuson will display upgrades fortwo probes. Acuson has enhanced its V7 and L5 probes to supportColor Doppler Energy (CDE), Acuson's power Doppler mode technology.The V7 is targeted at pediatric and neonatal applications, whileL5 is used in vascular applications. The vendor has also developedtwo new works-in-progress transducers specifically for use inthe operating theater; one is a T-shaped side-fire transducer,while the other is a small footprint end-fire probe. Acuson willalso unveil EC7, a new probe for endocavity applications.

Acuson will show a videotape detailing its progress in developinga three-dimensional display mode for CDE. The work-in-progresstechnology subtracts two-dimensional b-mode information, leavingan image that displays only a CDE representation of the targetanatomy such as vascular architecture.

Finally, Acuson has developed work-in-progress technology tobetter display the location of biopsy needles while under ultrasoundguidance. When completed, any Acuson scanner will be able to usethe technology, according to Kerr Spencer, general imaging marketingmanager.