GE launches mini scanner for doctors

GE Healthcare, the $17-billion healthcare division of General Electric Company, today launched an iPod-like device that can be handy for doctors who want to see what’s wrong inside a patient’s body.

Terming it as a revolutionary pocket-sized visualisation tool, ‘Vscan’, GE said the product, roughly the size of a smart phone, houses powerful, ultra-smart, ultrasound technology, that provides clinicians with an immediate, non-invasive method to help secure visual information about what is happening inside the body.

Vscan costs between Rs 5.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh per unit, is portable, battery-operated and can easily be taken from room to room to be used in many clinical, hospital or primary care settings, the company said. This was launched here as part of a global one. “Vscan is designed to be complementary to the stethoscope – to help physicians go beyond what they can hear to what they can see. We believe Vscan can reduce the need for more tests and referrals during physical examinations and could make healthcare more accessible to people in India,” said V Raja, President and CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia.

Vscan is capable of scanning up to 30 patients with its one-hour battery power backup. Physicians can store patient images with its 4GB memory card, expandable up to 32 GB. The high image quality, combined with simple user interface that can be controlled using the thumb, helps facilitate disease detection. Physicians can zoom images in and out, pan left and right for analysis. Clinician can store images and add voice annotations. A docking station, plus cable link, helps the transfer of data to a personal computer for organising or sharing with experts through e-mail or internet, a GE statement said.