GE Healthcare's portable ultrasound may expedite patient triage and reduce exposure
While clinicians grapple with the COVID-19 exposure risks associated with transporting patients to imaging arenas, a point-of-care ultrasound system could help expedite triage right at the bedside.
Shirkey
"Right now, we cannot afford to send the patient to a CT scan and wait two hours until it is clean again," said Tomás Villén, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Hospital Ramón y Cajal in Madrid, Spain. "We need something fast and reliable that can be made at the bedside, if possible, so I am using ultrasound."
To date, RT-PCR testing remains the recommended method to diagnose COVID-19. In a best practices document published by the RSNA COVID-19 Task Force, experts recommend that whenever possible chest radiography to assess disease progression in COVID-19 cases be performed in patient rooms using portable equipment. This practice can limit potential exposure risks posted by transporting the patient to another area of the hospital.
In an acute care setting, handheld ultrasound units like GE Healthcare's Vscan Extend™ could offer another imaging solution that minimizes the risks of transport, can be used at the patient bedside and is easily cleaned after each use.
"The Vscan Extend can be used to image the patient right at the bedside — for example, in the emergency department, intensive care unit, makeshift care areas or even at home," said Jeff Hersh, MD, Chief Medical Officer of GE Healthcare.
The scan can be performed during the clinical examination by the patient's doctor, without requiring the transport of a potentially infectious patient through the facility, Dr. Hersh explained, and the image can then be shared digitally if a consultation is required.
While ultrasound cannot be used to diagnose COVID-19, Vscan Extend can help to triage patients with acute respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms. Because the system is portable, easy to clean and has options to connect readily to DICOM, PACS or cloud storage, it can help during an initial examination by limiting transport and exposure.
Bill Shirkey, director of cardiac imaging at Naples Community Hospital System in Florida, emphasized that all health systems should seriously consider employing measures to limit exposure time in imaging suites. "We have been fortunate to have the Vscan Extend as one of our imaging tools," he said.
Jalil
Vscan Extend can be useful in confirming and monitoring the progression of acute respiratory diseases. It also has indications in abdominal ultrasound, obstetrics and gynecology, procedural guidance and a variety of other multisystem applications.
"The Vscan Extend has been my backbone in the ICU," said Bilal Jalil, MD, a pulmonologist and critical care specialist in Dallas, TX. "It continues to help me take care of the critically-ill infected patients while having confidence in infection control."
Shirkey noted, "Anything to lessen the amount of time in the room and exposure to viral load is something a system should take a hard look at doing."
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