Email a Friend
Print Article
Virtual Stethoscopes: Coming Soon to a Doctor’s Office Near You
By Denise Mann, MS
WebMD Guest Blogger
Oct. 27, 2009 – It’s slim, it’s slick, it’s shiny, and it’s smart. It is also about the size of a cell phone, and the Vscan may help save lives in developing nations as well as rural parts of the United States.
The Vscan, developed by General Electric, is referred to as a virtual stethoscope and can be used to quickly and accurately make a diagnosis without relying on the more traditional and cumbersome ultrasound machinery. There is no pricing information available yet, but the product was unveiled at General Electric Healthymagination conference in New York City, a two-week-long exhibit designed to introduce doctors, thought leaders, and patients to the next generation of medical technology.
And that’s not the only high-tech product that may help save lives while cutting health care costs. Portable ECG machines that are about the size and weight of a laptop computer may allow doctors in small clinics and developing nations to quickly and efficiently assess the cause of heart problems. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) measure and record the electrical activity of the heart.
Former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a former heart-lung transplant surgeon, is a fan of the Vscan. “If I had something like this, it would save what I had to do in the middle of the civil war in the Sudan when five patients showed up with abdominal masses that could have been caused by a number of things,’ says Frist, who is a member of a new advisory panel created by General Electric that aims to help use technology to provide access to affordable health care. With VScan, “instead of operating on all five, I might have only operated on one of them.”
A quick scan of the affected area with the lightweight device could have helped rule in or out causes of the pain that warrant surgery, he explains. And it’s not just the Sudan; this technology can also help doctors in rural areas of the U.S. such as Eastern Tennessee and Memphis, Frist says.
The smart ECG talks and gives feedback on the placement of the leads. While it has not received clearance from the FDA yet, some preliminary research shows that doctors dig its portability. The machine has a long-lasting battery life and allows users to transfer the information using a memory card.
Putting technology like the VScan or portable ECG into doctors’ hands will allow more people to be diagnosed sooner, says Michael J. Barber, a vice president of General Electric in Fairfield, Conn., who is head of Healthymagination.
“Health care reform is about providing access to more patients,” he says.
Sources:
Former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Michael J. Barber, a vice president of General Electric, Fairfield, Conn.
General Electric Healthymagination, New York.
WebMD Guest Blogger
Oct. 27, 2009 – It’s slim, it’s slick, it’s shiny, and it’s smart. It is also about the size of a cell phone, and the Vscan may help save lives in developing nations as well as rural parts of the United States.
The Vscan, developed by General Electric, is referred to as a virtual stethoscope and can be used to quickly and accurately make a diagnosis without relying on the more traditional and cumbersome ultrasound machinery. There is no pricing information available yet, but the product was unveiled at General Electric Healthymagination conference in New York City, a two-week-long exhibit designed to introduce doctors, thought leaders, and patients to the next generation of medical technology.
And that’s not the only high-tech product that may help save lives while cutting health care costs. Portable ECG machines that are about the size and weight of a laptop computer may allow doctors in small clinics and developing nations to quickly and efficiently assess the cause of heart problems. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) measure and record the electrical activity of the heart.
Former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a former heart-lung transplant surgeon, is a fan of the Vscan. “If I had something like this, it would save what I had to do in the middle of the civil war in the Sudan when five patients showed up with abdominal masses that could have been caused by a number of things,’ says Frist, who is a member of a new advisory panel created by General Electric that aims to help use technology to provide access to affordable health care. With VScan, “instead of operating on all five, I might have only operated on one of them.”
A quick scan of the affected area with the lightweight device could have helped rule in or out causes of the pain that warrant surgery, he explains. And it’s not just the Sudan; this technology can also help doctors in rural areas of the U.S. such as Eastern Tennessee and Memphis, Frist says.
The smart ECG talks and gives feedback on the placement of the leads. While it has not received clearance from the FDA yet, some preliminary research shows that doctors dig its portability. The machine has a long-lasting battery life and allows users to transfer the information using a memory card.
Putting technology like the VScan or portable ECG into doctors’ hands will allow more people to be diagnosed sooner, says Michael J. Barber, a vice president of General Electric in Fairfield, Conn., who is head of Healthymagination.
“Health care reform is about providing access to more patients,” he says.
Sources:
Former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Michael J. Barber, a vice president of General Electric, Fairfield, Conn.
General Electric Healthymagination, New York.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment