Siemens Healthineers launches new ultrasound system

The launching of Siemens Healthineers' new ultrasound system

The new ACUSON Sequoia, a general imaging ultrasound system, was developed in response to one of the most prevalent challenges in ultrasound imaging today: the imaging of different sized patients with consistency and clarity.

With its new Deep Abdominal Transducer (DAX), a new high-powered architecture and innovative updates to elastography and contrast-enhanced ultrasound, the new ACUSON Sequoia produces penetration up to 40cm.

“With its powerful architecture and innovative features, the new ACUSON Sequoia expands precision medicine by enabling high-resolution imaging that adapts to patients’ size and personal characteristics, contributing to more confident diagnosis,” said Fabrice Leguet, general director of Siemens Healthineers Vietnam.

Expanding the reach of ultrasound imaging

According to the World Health Organisation, 1.9 billion people globally are reported as overweight with 650 million people classified as obese.

In Vietnam, the number of overweight people has increased 4 times higher than 10 years ago, accounting for 18.3 per cent of the population in 2016.

Because ultrasound imaging relies on the sending and receiving of echo signals to produce images, the deeper an echo signal needs to penetrate, the more attenuation occurs, resulting in image quality degradation.

In response, Siemens Healthineers built the entirely new ACUSON Sequoia system to adapt to the “BioAcoustic Variations” of each patient, characteristics that include tissue density, stiffness, and absorption.

The new ACUSON Sequoia provides high-resolution InFocus imaging throughout the entire field of view, from the near field to the far field, in real-time.

Therefore, there is no need to adjust the focal point of the scan, resulting in faster scan time without compromising frame rates and resolution. The new ultrasound system also offers high resolution colour flow, up to three times the sensitivity, and up to 20 per cent deeper penetration.

More power for clearer images

In addition to increased rates of obesity, prevalence of liver disease is also on the rise. Clinicians utilise ultrasound elastography to determine shear wave speed, a parameter correlated with tissue stiffness in the liver which can correlate to chronic disease progression.

Imaging in these patients can be challenging, particularly in larger patients where the signals are attenuated. The innovative power architecture of the new ACUSON Sequoia provides six times the energy capacity available for shear wave elastography, enabling imaging at greater depths and a reduction in image variability.

Improving workflows with user-centric technologies

As the most widely used medical imaging modality, ultrasound scanning preferences vary from user to user, making it a highly-personal experience. In a collective effort to eliminate variability and long-term ergonomic injuries, Siemens Healthineers hosted 170 workshops with 365 worldwide ultrasound users to create a platform designed by the user, for the user.

The new ACUSON Sequoia improves workflow by introducing user-friendly features, such as gesture detecting transducers – activated by touch, automated protocols, and streamlined registration which adapts to user preferences over time.

A unique new capability among diagnostic ultrasound systems, “UltraArt” provides several image choices which are automatically generated with a user’s preferred image parameter settings, right on the touch screen.

The user can select the image that best matches the patient’s BioAcoustic characteristics, avoiding manual adjustment of multiple individual image parameters.