GE Healthcare has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its new Vivid T8 cardiovascular ultrasound scanner.
The mobile system sports features including capabilities for stress echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) at an affordable price, the company said.
GE said it has also boosted the capabilities of the system by combining the cardiac imaging capabilities of its GE Vivid systems with the shared-service features of its Logiq radiology scanners. Vivid T8 is also convenient to use and unusually rugged, as GE put the scanner through more than 20 hours of intense vibration, shock, and thermal testing to ensure reliability, a first for the company, GE said.
The scanner's user interface offers touchscreen capabilities, rotary dials, and patient management buttons modeled after its Vivid systems. Access to as many as four transducer ports enables easier access for more clinical procedures, according to the company.
Key clinical procedures supported by the system include tissue velocity imaging, AutoEF for automatic assessment of ventricular ejection fraction, SmartStress to automatically adjust settings for stress procedures, automated function imaging to look at left-ventricular wall motion, and automatic intima-medial thickness measurement. Adult multiplane transesophageal transducers can be added for specific echo exams, and blood-flow imaging software helps visualize blood-flow imaging dynamics, according to GE.
