An editorial by Paul Mullen, general manager for point of care ultrasound at GE Healthcare


Infants can do something new every day. It’s almost as if they get a software upgrade overnight. In one sense, that’s the definition of immaturity – ready for an upgrade.

Medical ultrasound is no infant, but it is an immature technology. Immaturity is terrific when it brings benefits to patients and caregivers, and we expect the next half decade to be remarkable – particularly as digital integration changes the entire conversation.



First, let’s look at ultrasound’s infancy:

From its founding in the 1960s to the 1980s, ultrasound advancements transitioned from the world of the scientist to the world of the clinician. New modes were the primary innovation, from A-mode and 2D to PW Doppler and HPRF, and so on. During the 1980s, Color Flow Doppler and the evolution of Power Doppler dominated the scene, enhancing our understanding of hemodynamics. In the 1990s, digital beamformers gave new precision to ultrasound, while broadband high frequency imaging broadened its applications. Then in the 2000s, transducers offered more penetration and computational power enabled faster frame rates. Most recently, 3D and 4D capabilities make ultrasound more accessible and elastography promises to distinguish tissue stiffness.

Ultrasound Everywhere
Most of these changes have been significant enough that not only healthcare providers, but also patients, can see the difference. The innovations have led to ultrasound’s ubiquity, now in use far beyond its origins in traditional diagnostic imaging. There’s little doubt that this ubiquity will grow as ultrasound miniaturizes, improves ease of use, and expands its clinical functionality.

What used to be a 200 pound/250,000 USD ultrasound machine is now likely to be one-tenth of the weight and price. The miniaturization of ultrasound has led to completely new offerings for caregivers. With devices that resemble laptop computers, tablets, or even mobile phones, caregivers walk around with two transducers (for different clinical uses) in their pocket.

This change of size is not just for novelty. When an ultrasound system fits in a caregiver’s pocket, it transitions from being simply useful and available to being necessary and ubiquitous – driving speed, productivity, and efficiency. Like a kid on a new bike, it’s leaving the safety of its birthplace and going everywhere. Randomized controlled studies show that caregivers in non-imaging specialties (from ophthalmology and endocrinology to anesthesiology and sports medicine and more) are using ultrasound with competence equal to that of their traditional ultrasound colleagues in specific, targeted applications.

Ultrasound Homepage