Ultrasound-guided biopsies are more accurate and safer with the Smart Fusion (Toshiba) ultrasound technology, a press release from the company states. Toshiba showcased Smart Fusion at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s (SIR) Annual Scientific Meeting (22–27 March, San Diego, USA).
“Smart Fusion has allowed us to save patients from getting open surgical biopsies and increased our confidence in identifying the right lesion accurately, safely and quickly,” said Van Young, interventional radiologist, St Elizabeth Healthcare, Covington, USA.
“We have seen procedure times decrease from 30 to 15 minutes because of the ability to find smaller and difficult-to-access lesions during ultrasound-guided biopsies. Another significant benefit of Smart Fusion is reducing dose to patients and physicians by lowering the number of CT-only guided biopsies.”
Smart Fusion syncs previously acquired CT and MR images with live ultrasound side by side on a single screen, helping to locate lesions and aiding in ultrasound-guided procedures. Toshiba’s Smart Fusion is easy to use, with the most intuitive user setup available. Smart Fusion is available on Toshiba’s premier ultrasound system, AplioTM 500.
“Toshiba’s advancements in ultrasound technology are expanding its applications so healthcare providers can feel confident in using a safe, inexpensive and accurate modality,” said Tomohiro Hasegawa, director, Ultrasound Business Unit, Toshiba. “For example, if a biopsy or ablation can be performed with ultrasound instead of CT, even if it takes the same amount of time, the healthcare provider will benefit from using the more cost-effective system while reducing radiation exposure to the patient and clinician.”
