Developed by GE Healthcare, Vscan is a light, portable visualization device with imaging capabilities allowing physicians to take a quick peek at a patient’s internal systems at bedside. Like a console ultrasound, this hand-held technology offers high-quality black and white image technology and color-coded blood flow imaging instantly. At less than one pound, 3 inches wide and 5.3 inches long, the Vscan fits into a doc’s pocket and can be easily transported from room to room.

Results with the Vscan are impressive. A study of 189 patients at two tertiary hospitals in Lisbon, Portugal and Madrid, Spain published in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography showed that use of the new miniaturized echocardiographic system after physical exam led to diagnoses in 141 (74.6 percent) and to an additional 37 patients (19.6 percent) being released from the outpatient clinic. After physical exam followed by the miniaturized system assessment, only 64 patients (33.9 percent) were sent to the echocardiography lab. The study concluded that the new system showed additive clinical value over physical examination, increasing the number of diagnoses, reducing the use of unnecessary routine echo and determining a large number of releases from the outpatient clinic.

Physicians in Lafayette and New Orleans are already using this innovative device to help detect disease and complications earlier. Dr. Mark Stellingworth, cardiac specialist at LSU Health Care Services Division’s University Medical Center in Lafayette, has been using the Vscan since mid-2011. “I’ve always been intrigued by a portable handheld echo system,” he said. “But as an academic cardiologist, I’ve found that it’s been invaluable for educational purposes.”

FDA has cleared Vscan for use in fetal/OB, abdominal, pediatric, urological, cardiac, peripheral vessel and thoracic plural motion fluid detection. In his cardiac practice, Stellingworth uses the device as an adjunct to his exam with a stethoscope. “I can complement my physical exam with a stethoscope with this device, as it allows us real-time analysis of our own examination techniques,” he explained.

The intriguing technology also helps to give anxious patients a quicker answer. “It’s a nice jumping off point to tell them what we think,” Stellingworth observed. “It helps to educate them a little bit better when we are doing the echo at the bedside, and having a physician as opposed to a stenographer perform the study. Patients are surprised that there is a device that small, and inevitably they’ll ask you, ‘Well, how’s it look? What’s going on?’ We can tell them in real time what we think is going on, and what our next plan of action is.”

While the device does not replace diagnostic ultrasound in the lab, it does allow physicians to make a quicker assessment. “It’s something I can carry into the emergency room, and it can help me make a more rapid decision, as opposed to waiting for the sonographer to get down there to perform the echo,” Stellingworth said. “It gives me just a nice, real-time analysis.”

Stellingworth uses Vscan in the emergency room to assess patients with critical cardiac issues. “I use it when I’m on the fence in terms of when a patient comes in with chest pain that is atypical in nature, and it’s my first time seeing them if I don’t have a recent echo,” he explained. “Or, if they’ve had a change in the quality of their presentation, I’ll use the probe to basically evaluate their left ventricular function. And, if there’s been a change based on their previous echo, or if there’s a wall motion abnormality in a new patient, that changes my therapeutic strategy, and probably convinces me to get a little more aggressive in certain circumstances or maybe scale back my care if necessary in others. I’ve had multiple occasions where patients have come in with chest pain that wasn’t classic; the typical sub-sternal chest pain that radiates to the jaw and the arm. If I’m not 100 percent certain that they need to go to the cath lab right away, and the enzymes are pending at the time, sometimes I’ll just use the Vscan to just basically make my decision right there about what we are going to do. It’s pretty helpful.”

Vscan’s powerful ultrasound technology produces high-quality images. “In fact, it’s excellent,” Stellingworth observed.

Its light weight and small size is also an asset. “It’s really no bigger than an iPhone, and it has a flip top. It’s pretty much like a regular ultrasound; it’s just a lot smaller and easier to carry,” he said.

The technology is simple to use. Vscan’s intuitive user interface can be controlled using the thumb. Intelligent workflow enhancements and voice annotation are included.

As an instructor at UMC, Stellingworth finds the device invaluable. “At an academic institution, it’s essentially a no-brainer,” he said. “It’s great for our students and residents. It’s one thing to hear a murmur or some kind of pathology in the heart, and it’s another thing to actually see it. And, I think having that complementary modality really brings home the point for our residents.”

Currently, UMC has one of the devices, priced at $7,900 per unit. Stellingworth hopes to get at least one more, since his residents are anxious to get their hands on this new technology. “Most of the residents are trying to compete with me to actually use it,” he said with a laugh. “Once I feel comfortable with the resident, I’ll hand it over to them.”

Learning to use the Vscan is easy. An online portal provides users with training tools including basic clinical applications. Materials address imaging technique, anatomy and trouble shooting. Additional training for specific applications is also available.

Vscan comes with a battery charger station which has battery life of one hour scanning. This is good for up to 30 patients based on an average of two minutes per scan. The device also includes a USB docking station and links to a PC for organization and export of data.

This unique device is designed for use in many clinical, hospital and practice settings. Indications are for a variety of specialties, including primary care, cardiology, critical care and women’s health, as well as hospitalists.

Stellingworth sees Vscan as the wave of the future. “I think as the technology develops, this is going to be perhaps a device that will replace the stethoscope in the future,” he projected. “I think that most cardiologists should have something like this, simply because it offers a real-time evaluation that they perhaps can’t get at a local facility. I use it now almost every day.”

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