GE beefs up ultrasound offerings

GE Medical Systems introduced major upgrades to its Logiq lineof ultrasound scanners this year. For the Logiq 700, the MaximumResolution upgrade debuted in April, bringing improvements tothat system that GE claims unlock its potential (SCAN 5/8/96).

In October, GE moved Maximum Resolution lower in the productline to Logiq 500 and Logiq 400, both of which will carry thesuffix "MD." Two main features of MD are Micron Imagingand Adaptive Color Enhancement (ACE), according to Bill Kyle,product marketing manager.

Micron Imaging, when used with GE's LA39 6 to 13-MHz widebandtransducer, allows clinicians to visualize objects at submillimeterresolution, Kyle said. The technique is expected to prove usefulfor small-parts applications, such as breast, testicular, andmusculoskeletal imaging.

ACE is a color-flow processing technique for all of GE's probesthat uses the entire Doppler spectrum to estimate and displayblood flow, rather than the average Doppler frequency as measuredby conventional systems. The technique improves color-flow sensitivity,allows for higher color-flow frame rates, and helps reduce colorartifacts, Kyle said.

In nuclear medicine, GE received 510(k) clearance in Octoberfor a new gamma camera, Millennium MG. Millennium MG is a variable-angledual-head system introduced at the Society of Nuclear Medicinemeeting in June (SCAN 6/19/96). In addition to conventional gammacameras, visitors to GE's booth should ask about the status ofa solid-state digital gamma camera under development by the Milwaukeevendor. Like Digirad's Notebook Imager, the system uses detectorsmade from cadmium zinc telluride.