Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Portable Ultrasound: GE's breakthrough on medical technology


At the first glance, some might mistake it as a new model of cellphone. Well, not quite. This blackberry sized gadget is a portable ultrasound device.

A month ago, GE unveiled this pocket-sized visualization tool known as 'Vscan' at the Web 2.0 summit.

Ultrasound usually have an entire room dedicated to it and the cost is not cheap either. The Vscan enables an immediate access to look inside the body and visualize what doctors feel and hear. On that note, some experts have predicted it to be as prevalent and indispensable as the stethoscope. Using this, the doctors will have a better access to lessen the number of referrals, enhance their ability on conducting immediate check-ups and improving their skill on making fast and accurate diagnoses.

Moreover, the Vscan could also prove to be very helpful with it's size, especially for traveling physicians and for most doctors who are usually in front of a massive trauma event.

The bad news is, the estimated cost of this device will be about $250,000. Now that's far more than what a professional medical practitioner can afford! That amount could even be far expensive than what third world hospitals could pay for.

But let's not lose hope. After all, innovations on technology has been constantly developed aimed at lower pricing. How much does a laptop cost back in 2001 again?

BY: Maricris Faderugao
BJ 3-1D