Siemens installs ultrasound systems in three UK community and acute hospitals

9 October 2009

Siemens has announced installation of its Acuson ultrasound systems at three UK hospitals for use in outpatients, a range of maternity uses, foetal medicine and general medicine, in Malvern, Barnet and Wolverhampton.

Malvern Community Hospital

Malvern Community Hospital, part of Worcestershire Primary Care NHS Trust has installed an Acuson X300 PE ultrasound system. The system was purchased with funds raised by the Malvern Hospital League of Friends, a charitable organisation that provides support and assists with the purchase of equipment for patients.

The X300 PE ultrasound has been installed into the outpatients department for use in a wide range of scans, enabling patients to receive treatment locally without having to travel to the nearest acute hospital. The system is helping to relieve pressure on Worcestershire Royal Hospital and is being used for scans in general medicine, surgery, gynaecology, and vascular work. It is also helping to support staff training in orthopaedics for scanning spines and knees.

“The installation of the X300 PE ultrasound system provides a much better experience for our patients as they will no longer have to travel as far as 13 miles to the nearest acute site for an appointment,” said Linda Ingles, Matron at Malvern Community Hospital. “It also enables patients to receive faster treatment, as any issues can be diagnosed swiftly and taken care of on site, rather than referring the patient to the acute hospital for an initial scan.”

Barnet Hospital

Barnet Hospital, part of the Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, has installed seven Acuson S2000 and two Acuson X300 PE ultrasound systems. The devices have been installed into the early pregnancy unit, the antenatal clinic for obstetrics and gynaecological work and the main department for use in general medicine.

All the technology was provided through the long-term Managed Equipment Service (MES) partnership in place at Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages the Investment Plan associated with the periodic renewal of over 2500 pieces of medical equipment until the year 2032. A Symbia S dual head gamma camera has also been installed as part of the equipment refresh cycle.

The Siemens MES offers stable financial planning and specialist help with selecting the systems to meet exacting clinical need, thus enabling the hospital to remain focused on providing a high standard of patient care.

The S2000 ultrasound system is optimised for high-frequency imaging and delivers 2D, 3D, Colour and Pulse-wave Doppler and 4D images of superior quality to provide exceptional levels of diagnostic confidence for the best possible outcomes. It also includes knowledge-based workflow drawing on an expert database of real clinical cases to recognise anatomical patterns and perform automatic measurements. This aids diagnosis, speeds up examinations and helps keep patient appointments on schedule.

“The ultrasound systems have provided us with significantly improved, high quality images, even in the most challenging of cases,” states Karen Hammett, Superintendent Ultrasonographer at Barnet Hospital. “For example, they perform very well with patients who have a high Body Mass Index (BMI), as interference and noise is reduced, resulting in a better quality image for a more accurate diagnosis.”

“As healthcare targets grow more challenging and controlling costs get tougher, MES comes to the fore with its stable approach to capital investment,” states Philip Peace, Director of MES at Siemens Healthcare. “This ensures that modern technology is readily available to assist with diagnosis and therapeutic procedures, plus patients are assured of the highest standard of care.”

New Cross Hospital

Obstetric patients at New Cross Hospital, part of The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, are receiving highly accurate and detailed scans following the installation of three Acuson S2000 ultrasound systems and a Spatio-Temporal Imaging Correlation (STIC) application.

One S2000 system has been installed into the Foetal Medicine Department and includes STIC, for obtaining detailed images of foetal hearts. STIC provides an automated acquisition of a high quality foetal heart volume using a sophisticated algorithm that compensates for variability in heart rate. Multi-planar reformatted images are easily obtained for detailed anatomical evaluation. STIC also features real-time heart rate display and preview mode to improve workflow.

“The S2000’s excellent image quality provides a clear and detailed representation of any cardiac abnormalities, enabling us to accurately diagnose and treat as many problems as possible,” said David Churchill, Consultant Obstetrician at New Cross Hospital. “The STIC package will significantly increase our yield detection rate in small hearts to uncover problems early such as ventricular septal defects.”

The other two S2000 ultrasound systems have been installed into the maternity department for paediatric, obstetric and gynaecological work. “We selected the systems based on excellent image quality and the variety of different probes available,” said Sue Burford, Clinical Ultrasound Manager at New Cross Hospital. “We are very pleased with the lightweight and comfortable first trimester 9L4 probe, which we are using to obtain highly detailed obstetric and baby hip scans.”

The S2000 system in the maternity department at New Cross Hospital also features the syngo Auto OB application, which enables automated measurements from knowledge-based foetal biometrics. It uses advanced statistical pattern recognition from a large database of ultrasound images to provide the sonographer with instant measurements without the need for manual calculations.

his ensures that all measurement results are standardised and not subject to individual influences by cross checking against thousands of annotated images of foetal biometric measurements inside the Auto OB database engine. This ensures a standard and consistent result for the department.

“The S2000 ultrasound system is a versatile solution for obtaining detailed obstetric and foetal scans,” said Bernadette Leonard, Regional Sales Manager for Ultrasound Products at Siemens Healthcare. “The range of applications such as STIC and Auto OB provides quick and accurate information that clinicians need for detecting the smallest of abnormalities, enabling any problems to be accurately diagnosed and treated at an early stage.”

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