Aloka's SSD-1700 features digital module

Aloka will introduce SSD-1700, a new color-flow ultrasound scannerwith an option available to support digital management of ultrasoundimages. The new scanner employs a similar imaging architectureto Aloka's existing SSD-2000 scanner, but users can add a datamanagement subsystem (DMS) for functions such as image processingand archiving, according to William Jennings, vice president ofsales and marketing for the Wallingford, CT, company. SSD-1700will be shown as a work-in-progress.

The DMS module is like an onboard workstation that lets sonographersarchive up to 1000 gray-scale ultrasound images or 400 color imageson a single magneto-optical disk. Clinicians can also store cineloop images, conduct online and off-line measurements, and loaddata into a PC, Jennings said. DMS images are digitized from thescanner's scan converter into the DICOM 3.0 format, making iteasier to integrate SSD-1700 with a DICOM network.

Aloka will target a price point for SSD-1700 of under $200,000when FDA clearance is received. The scanner has been shippingto international customers for the past several months.

In addition to SSD-1700, Aloka will display images producedwith a new work-in-progress 3-D technique called Volume Mode.Volume Mode creates 3-D surface renderings without the use ofa separate workstation, and Aloka will emphasize ob/gyn imagesreconstructed with the technology.