Diasonics brings System Five to U.S.

Diasonics and its European subsidiary Vingmed Sound have brought their jointly developed System Five echocardiography scanner to the North American market, debuting the scanner at last week's American Society of Echocardiography meeting. System Five becomes the vendors' premium echocardiography offering in North America, and a radiology version of the scanner is likely to follow. Diasonics/Vingmed displayed the scanner at the European Congress of Radiology in March (SCAN 3/19/97).

Diasonics and Vingmed say the new scanner represents a leap forward for the company in the use of digital technology. It's based on totally digital architecture, with a new digital beamformer. Previously, Diasonics scanners used digital technology only on their back ends. System Five also employs application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and Diasonics refers to the scanner as an ultrasound computer, due to its programmable design.

System Five is programmed to run 256 channels with phased-array probe technology, using acquisition speeds greater than 350 fps, according to the company. The scanner also provides 130 dB dynamic range and can be reconfigured to support more than 1000 channels, although the company did not say if that capability is currently available on the system.

In the future, the all-digital architecture of System Five will allow for the addition of capabilities such as tissue-velocity imaging, second-harmonic imaging, and 3-D imaging, according to the Santa Clara, CA-based vendor. Diasonics hopes that U.S. sales of the scanner can match the success it has achieved in Europe, where Vingmed has sold 170 systems.