AIUM papers highlight CVI-Q progress

Philips Ultrasound is moving forward in its R&D program for Color Velocity Imaging-Quantification(CVI-Q), the vendor's unique non-Doppler method for quantifyingblood volume flow. Ten papers will be presented on CVI and CVI-Qat this week's American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine meetingin San Francisco.

Philips spent years developing CVI and CVI-Q and began shippingCVI-Q with its P700 SE scanners in February of 1994. Philips discontinuedthe P700 platform last year, however, in favor of SonoDiagnost800, which it developed in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard(SCAN 12/14/94 and 7/27/94).

Philips made a strategic decision not to ship CVI-Q on theinitial versions of SD 800 in order to position the platform asa mid-range system, according to Joe Balogh, senior marketingmanager for North America. Philips plans to introduce CVI-Q asan upgrade package for SD 800 later this year, he said.

"We decided to introduce the 800 at a mid-range pricepoint," Balogh said. "With CVI and CVI-Q, it would havecome in at a higher price point. We felt we'd gain more exposureestablishing it at the mid-range level."

The papers to be presented at the AIUM meeting cover work donewith the P700, according to Balogh. The papers cover topics rangingfrom the use of CVI-Q to monitor shunts and predict the likelihoodof graft failure to measuring cranial and extremity perfusion.Several presentations indicate that CVI-Q may be superior to conventionalDoppler methods of measuring blood flow.