4D imaging with the Voluson i

We finally got a chance to get a pregnant woman in the office to check out the Voluson i... GE's portable 4D machine. I had to see how the imaging was on live patients and if it's as good as the large console units. I posted portions of a video of the scan on the GPS Medical Website.
First off, when you see this unit you can't help but wonder if something so small can be any good. You can see here that I've taken pictures of the Voluson i sitting next to my business laptop and also sitting on top of the monitor of a BT05 Voluson 730 Pro. You can see that this system is small.

When we tested this unit on our baby phantom, it was hard to what the true 4D image quality would be. So we brought a friend in to see how the system would do. She was 37 weeks pregnant, so we were a bit nervous to see what would come of it. The baby's face was also in the placenta for much of the scan, but we were able to get some good shots as you can see from the images here on this page. We also have the Voluson i video at our website.

In the video, you'll hear us talking and you'll hear the baby's big brother talking. It's hard to tell from these shots, but the baby would react when the boy would talk to her. It made for an awfully great moment.

Regarding the system, we found that the 2D image quality was much like the GE Logiq e, with which we were also very impressed. This image was very similar and had surprisingly good penetration for such a small machine. In 4D, however, the our initial experience showed that image quality wasn't quite up to par with even the oldest version of the Voluson 730. We didn't think this could be right, so we started making adjustments and tweaked our way to some solid image quality in 4D for "babyface" type images. And this wasn't a simple threshold/gain/mix adjustment. We needed to get into some deeper settings to really show improvements over the factory defaults. But  this thing does good 4D for those of you who are looking to add 4D to your practice. I didn't take any shots of the 2D, but believe me that it's impressive. The quality is better than you would find on anything up to BT04 in the Voluson line (although I haven't had a large patient to really test this unit on so I can't truly speak to its penetration in 2D).  I was as impressed with this as I was with the Logiqe. It's amazing how much this has become software-driven and not hardware-driven... we're seeing technology from a 400lb machine compete with with an 11lb machine. It's crazy. Please email me if you have questions or would like to see something specific that I'm not covering here.
Moving on to the console, I'm fairly disappointed that they didn't make this more truly laptop-like in its connections. It has some standard outputs, but connecting this to a DVD/RW was not  as easy as you'd hope. Available connectors include one VGA out, an RGB Connection for a color printer that must be from another planet. You'll need a video converter if you want to connect this to a DVD-Recorder or VCR. Who wants to haul all that around? We were able to connect the machine to extermal S-Video Connections, VGA, a DVD-R, and DVD-Recorder successfully and simultaneously, but it takes a bit of work and research. Plus, when attaching the CD/DVD writer via the USB, the machine gave us some fits, but we eventually got it worked out. Yes, the setup on these is difficult, but once you know what to do and the specific things to purchase, it's not too bad.
What's really cool, though, is the USB connectors. You can connect to a bluetooth printer, usb printer, and I transferred files to my USB memory stick in seconds. It was very cool. So if you have two offices, you can just purchase two different USB or Bluetooth printers and not have to carry the printers with you.

The keyboard is about as good as it can get without making it overly complicated. Plus, it's backlit, making its sometimes-hard-to-read keys just a bit easier. They don't have much real estate to fit in all the controls and still make it user-friendly. So I guess there's not much to critique here, but it definitely takes some getting used-to. There are many functions for many different buttons (some inconsistencies with them, as well) and it's not as intuitive as they've done in the past. I thought I could figure most of it out on my own, but I ended up spending an hour or so with the manual to find all those things that seemed to be hiding while I was doing the scan. Lesson: get apps training on this one... for presets and for the hidden stuff.

The bottom line: this thing is really incredible. Yes, it has its drawbacks... but look at the size of it. I'd have to say GE got it right again on the so-called "HCU" or Hand Carried Units (I don't know how a laptop is truly hand-carried, but whatever). There's obviously room for improvement here, but the price, performance, and flexibility of this unit is pretty darn awesome. These things are impossible to find on the used market... ours was sold within a day of receipt. They're hip and hot right now. However, if I were in an office setting and this unit didn't need to move much, a large console is easier on the RSI factor, it's more flexible, easier to use, and a bit more powerful. All that said, if a machine needs to move between rooms or offices, you couldn't beat this unit if you are even considering 4D capabilities. You're not sacrificing much for the convenience.

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Comments

[carlos siles]

im interested in buying a voluson i but i have other unit in mind like the mindray m7 which is cheaper. i have a mindray m5 and it is better than averaga on the 2d abdominal image. and it is 10/10 in vaginal. the only thing im worried is the quality of image on the voluson i. what is your opinion on the voluson i and the mindray 7?

[Brian Gill]

The price for these transducers is currently more than $5,500 because there is a global shortage and they're simply not available as of May 2010. Hopefully there will be more available soon! You can email me at bgillgps@gmail.com when you feel your probe is no longer useable and I can quote you. For now, you might want to hang onto that probe for a little longer.

[DocDoc]

Any idea about the cost of the 4D volume probe (OB/GYN) for the Voluson i? I am having problems with my probe and was wondering how much it would cost to replace it.

[Brian Gill]

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for your comments on the Voluson i. This is probably the most common question I receive about the Voluson ultrasound systems... that is, second to "I get fuzzy images"

To answer your question, I would really need to see what you're doing and what your images look like.

When I sell a system or do any training, I overwrite some of the factory presets and customize them to your needs... most of which are the same for those looking at a baby's face (your typical type of patient may change the preset). I have a couple options for you.

1. I created a video that goes through the Voluson i that goes through all its paces and shows you how to optimize images in 2D and 4D. It goes to all the customers who purchase a Voluson i from me (free) but I could sell you a copy if you're interested.
2. I also provide on-site applications training for most ultrasound systems, but I'm particularly good with the Voluson i. This would supplant the video.

Beyond that, you'd really have to have someone evaluate what you're doing because there's no "quick fix" if your technique isn't correct or your settings don't match your type of patients and preferences for image quality.

If you want, you could purchase the video and I could do consulting with you over the phone and email as I do with all my Voluson customers. The phone and email consulting would be free with the purchase of the Voluson Training Video.

Contact me at bgillgps@gmail.com and I'd be happy to catch up with you. Also, where are you located? This would determine if on-site training would be a reasonable option (price).

Thanks!
-Brian

[Melissa Bekedam]

Hello, I was wondering if you could help? I have been an Ultrasound tech for 11 years and have recently purchased a used Voluson i. I am having a hard time fine tuning my 3d/4d picture. I was just wondering if you could refer me to a site or person that would help me. I get a decent picture but feel there is more to it than I know. For instance I can see babys face very well but alot of the time the nose is not defined perfectly (kind of blurry). Maybe this a setting I have wrong? Any suggestions? Any help would be appreciated. Thank You.

[Dan G.]

My wife has been an Ultrasound tech for 15 years and we are in the process of starting a Mobile Ultrasound business. Can anyone tell me what the rules are for physician offices, i.e. OB/GYN, billing for these exams? I know many of them do it but there seems to be some confusion as to what the correct procedure actually is. There will be an independent Radiologist involved to read and interpret most if not all of the scans.

[L Littlewood]

I have a Voluson i that I am looking to sell. We bought it about a year ago for a "keepsake" ultrasound business and due to the economic downturn it has just not been doing what we need in order to justify keeping this machine. It is in perfect condition, has only been used on about 15 procedures, comes with an OB probe and is still under warranty. Please contact me if you are interested and give me a contact number.

[Dr sanjay Verma]

I am also using the portable voluson GE machine , and I am satisfied with the machine

[Brian Gill]

There are other systems available that are less expensive, but the Voluson i is the only portable system out there. It will likely remain at a high price because of it's limited availability and no competition. If you're looking for a less expensive system, there is the Voluson 730 Pro and "original" or 1.07 system.

[Ronke Dosunmu]

Hello,

Looking for a 3D/$D ultrasound for a non-medical prenatal baby view facility. I would prefer a portable system. What do you recommend? Is there anything out there that is not as pricy as the Voluson i?

[Brian Gill (Author)]

This is a great question... you can look everywhere and find conflicting information from GE. The fact is, there isn't much out there because it's a new product. I haven't heard of any hitting the market, but it's important that they differentiate between the Voluson e and Voluson i. What I can tell you, however, is that if the Voluson e and Voluson i follow the same road as the Logiq i and the Logiq e, then the answer would be as follows:

SRI (Speckle Reduction Imaging) and CRI (CrossXBeam) are both standard on the Voluson i. The units we've seen all have CrossXBeam and SRI enabled, although I'm sure there's an exception to that rule out there... typically these will be the standard. The Voluson e would be considered the lesser model, but is too new and we haven't seen them yet, but if we follow GE's logic on their other radiology Logiq e and Logiq i ultrasound systems, then you would have "compound" imaging on the 12L linear probe only on the Voluson e... there would not be CrossXBeam. SRI would not be available on the Voluson e and would be standard on the Voluson i.

The image difference would be limited to the CrossXBeam and SRI features, which are very helpful in 2D.

Pricing would be about $10,000 difference between the two. Our 2-probe Voluson i systems are selling at $61,000-$65,000 right now for the configuration you've given, down from $69,000 in May. We're looking at purchasing some other Voluson i systems... they last in-stock for about three days before they're gone, so I'm surprised to see the pricing go down instead of up. Send me an email if you'd like a quote on one. bgillgps at gmail.com (replace the "at" with @ for the email address and remove the spaces around it... I get too much spam if I post my actual address).

Thanks,
Brian Gill
President, GPS Medical, Inc.

[Matias Elena]

Do you know if the srs an CRI is an option or is standard in Voluson i/e ?
Do you have the opportunity to compare the 2d image of Voluson e/i ?
Do you know the price of Voluson i ad the difference with voluson e? (standard configuration with 2 transduers one voumetric and one endocavity 2d).