Terason t3000: Believe the hype, it's the new killer app

I'm in Dallas today on a business trip and met with the western region Director of Sales for Terason, Jerry Michel. He brought the t3000 so I could finally see this unit "in action" so I could get an idea of just how good the images are on this unit.

What I found is that hands down, for price/performance, this unit is an absolute winner. It's small, lightweight, and essentially defies current ideas and standards of how ultrasound works (hardware vs. software processing). This is a powerful machine with excellent image quality.

Color, Doppler, and 2D imaging were really impressive, it held great frame rates when in triplex (Color, Doppler, 2D), and provided excellent waveforms for a vascular study. In the picture I have here (clearly I need to look at these photos after I take them!), you can see a breast image. Next time I'll get more images and post them here. I spent more time playing with the unit than taking pictures.

Since the last post, I've received 6 phone calls and emails from people in this unit. It seems the biggest hesitation people have is that it's not a GE unit or one from a "major" manufacturer. Well, to that I say phooey. If this were a unit from a major manufacturer, it would cost at least $10,000 more and they'd give it a name that some marketing company received a healthy sum for creating, like Acuson P50 or something. This would beat out any direct competitor in a side-by-side, they'd kill it in price, and you'll get a 2-year warranty instead of just one. For example, the current Logiq e, which isn't as good, will cost you at least $5k more... and $7k more for the 2-year warranty.

Oh, and because this is a "true" laptop, you have full access to the Windows and Macintosh OSX operating systems... which means you can store, edit, post-process all images as well as use it as a laptop computer. Yes, this means you can print to any printer on your network, share images over the network, use the word processor and web browser, watch a DVD, etc. Try that with any other "laptop" unit (in which you'd need a special service dongel to get to the operating system... and even if you had access to the dongel, you would likely void your warranty when you tried to install anything due to potential software conflicts). This is a big deal, by the way, because installing anything besides the "approved" dvd-writers, printers, etc., on other systems is a tremendous hassle and often requires a service representative to perform the installation for you, and this would not be a free visit.

To be fair, however, in certain markets this unit isn't quite ready. I would recommend it for nearly all mobile, breast, musculoskeletal, phlebology, vascular, internal radiology, anesthesia, surgery, abdominal, or urology markets. It has a solid reporting package for these markets (which is severely lacking in comparable products). You can do OB/GYN, but you'll want a separate reporting package (I'm going to try it with Ashva's iMagic when I get a chance). I haven't seen the cardiac package, but I think having Siemens pick this up as the upgrade to the Cypress is all that needs to be said (the Terason t3000 will also be sold later this quarter as the Acuson P50). The cardiovascular version of the Terason t3000 (or Acuson P50) will be more expensive (adding CW Doppler and cardiac packages isn't cheap) and will go head-to-head with the Vivid i. For this I think GE has a worthy competitor, and Siemens is betting on it. In addition, you simply cannot ignore the value of a 2-year warranty (Siemens is rumored to only offer 1-year, so you'll want to get the Terason). Obviously Terason knows it has a killer app in the t3000.

Questions? Email me or leave a comment here for everyone else to see.

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Comments

[sukanya pachaidee]

I am looking for a portatble ultra sound machine for my Rheumatology practice. Any advise on a machine is greatly appreciated. Of course, the best proce for the best picture--that is.

THANKS

[Brian Gill]

Hello,

Could you please be more specific? If you are asking about channel count, many manufactures say very different things about what their true channel count is. Frankly, I wouldn't really go by Channel count because it's hard to get a straight answer from any manufacturer, and most sales and marketing people have NO IDEA what the true channel count is.

The confusion comes from something called MultiPlexing. In a VERY basic explanation, multiplexing basically allows the smaller, lower-channel systems (ie: portable ultrasound machines) to send multiple signals along a single channel... Larger systems with, say 512 true channels, require a lot of hardware, power, and expense in the cable because each Channel must have its own direct line to the element on the transducer.

For example, a probe may have 128 elements, but the cable may only carry 64 to the transducer. Multiplexing will allow the system to see the 128 channels but it happens quickly and your eye won't see it.

So, these claims of 1024 channels on a portable ultrasound are often over-hyped and aren't actually true. I will tell you however, that you should really evaluate the image instead of being concerned about channel count. Some multiplexing algorithms allow for great aperture and viewing width as the larger systems at a fraction of the size and cost.

If a portable ultrasound manufacturer claims 1024 channels, they're talking about their multiplexing and it's marketing hype. And it's unlikely you'd even see a difference.

-Brian

[Brian Gill]

Hello Dr.,

Thanks for posting your comment here. Are you looking for a portable? The M-Turbo is a nice choice and I have them available now as remanufactured portable ultrasound units. However, at this time each of the portable ultrasound systems you've suggested exceed $30,000 USD.

My question to you is: Do you need a portable ultrasound and is this within your budget? Otherwise, there are some other fairly solid ultrasound machines, but for the best images you'll pay in excess of $25,000 for a two-probe ultrasound system.

Thanks!
-Brian Gill
President, GPS Medical, Inc
blog.gpsmed.com

[DR. UMANGG PARIKH]

I am a radiologist and i want ot purchase a new USG machine which has fine colour doppler to perform upper and lower limb doppler, kidnys doppler, which easily find a vericose vein without strees, which has a excellent linear probe to find bowel pathology, smoothly bowel wall and appendix is seen, which has excesllent power doppler and 2D grey scal

I think about GE volusion i, M-Turbo, philips HD7 and Toshiba's namio XG which one is best or out of them any other option is awailable so please e- mail me.

thanking you.

I m waiting for your reply.

[Aman Verma]

i am seeing the comment on Logiq e that it is of 64 channels and terason is 256 channels

but Logiq e is of 1024 channel man...please see to it

[SmokinHot]

Brian, to say the least, you are brilliant. Thank you for your wonderful comments and reviews. Your Terason and Acuson stuff is fantastic. Thanks so much for your wonderful contributions to this industry! I'm sending you a private message because I'd like to purchase an ultrasound from you.

[Ashraf Md Razi]

I am a vascular surgeon from Malaysia currently doing an attachment with Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago. I 've been reading a lot about your product espc the Terason t3000 and have been hearing rave reviews about it. My line of work require a portable USG unit for a heavy vein clinic and AV fistula clinic on top of my regular PAD, Aortic, renal and carotid patients.So use of a clinic-based USg is very important. The USG unit will also be used for our peripheral outreach clinic. Price is a major concern in my country which is mainly a Government subsidised-based medical system. So the main question is " how much does the t3000 and the 2000 cost?"

[Brian Gill]

Hi Surya,

For vericose veins and anesthesiology, these are where the Terason basically beats anything up to $65,000 or higher with the Vivid i... and that's its first competitor.

To answer your question, there's quite a big difference between the three machines. First, the Micromaxx would likely be the least viable candidate. It has high contrast, but you can't do much with your images if you don't like how they're displayed. It's easy to use, however, the image is high contrast and decent resolution. When doing vein work, you need a sensitive machine with good power Doppler and excellent 2D for clear images. The MicroMaxx won't do this. It is good for high contrast images and bad for tissue definition and details. It likes big things that stand out. You'll get very black blacks and very white whites... on a very small screen on a system that is not customizable.

The Logiq e would be a step up to that, but it's expensive for a low channel-count system that isn't as easy to use. You won't get the sensitivity with the power Doppler (angio), and it has only 64 channels.

The Terason t3000 ultrasound would be the best in image quality and Doppler... and it has 256 channels (channels are essentially lines of sight ... if you drew straight lines perpendicular to the probe head, you would draw 64 lines from the Logiq e transducer, and 256 from the Terason... this is why the images won't compare, the Terason has 4-times the "sight" the Logiq e does). Granted, I'm totally biased towards the Terason right now. It's hands-down a better machine and one of the best I've seen. I also know that Terason doesn't lose in your market. Veins, anesthesia, breast, and vascular are their best markets and others can't compete. So, my answer to your question is: Terason. It really won't compare to the others.

You'll pay a few thousand more, but not enough to scare you away. The next closest machine is about $20,000 higher. I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

-Brian

[surya]

I am a physician looking to do varicose vein work and am getting an ultrasound for my office. Presently, the three systems I have looked at are the GE logiq e, the terason 3000, the sonosite Micromaxx.
Any opinions as to the difference in image quality and other issues between these three machines? (I also think that the GE is much more expensive than the micromaxx).

Thank you

[surya]

I am a physician looking to do varicose vein work and am getting an ultrasound for my office. Presently, the three systems I have looked at are the GE logiq e, the terason 3000, the sonosite Micromaxx.
Any opinions as to the difference in image quality and other issues between these three machines? (I also think that the GE is much more expensive than the micromaxx).

Thank you

[Brian Gill]

Hello,
I'm not sure how the pricing is structured in the UK, and the price depends on the configuration of the system and what applications you'll perform with the system. The Terason t3000 can be configured a number of ways to help save on price and get you the best performance. Email me with your specifications and your location and I can try to help you.
Thanks,
Brian

[dean]

what price for machine and probes? also how does that compare to the usa price?