The iU22 ultrasound system at New London Family Medical Center is a real-time three-dimensional imaging technology. It provides powerful imaging capabilities for many purposes, including pregnancy, vascular, thyroid, and testicular exams. It also offers advanced imaging capabilities specifically beneficial in the evaluation of breast masses.
Ultrasound imaging is advantageous because it is a relatively low cost and non-invasive way to look inside the body. The new technology allows for an extremely high level of diagnostic information and can provide answers for our patients more quickly and easily.
The iU22 features an adjustable, articulating flat screen LCD monitor that can be positioned so that it can be viewed from almost any direction. This allows patients the ability to see images during scanning, as well. The system can be operated by intelligent voice-command when the sonographer, or ultrasound technologist, is in tight quarters or needs both hands for scanning.
This ultrasound system has the potential to:
- Make ultrasound exams much faster
- Help patients and their physician better visualize and understand their condition
- Help identify the nature of suspicious breast lesions sooner utilizing new, higher resolution, higher frequency transducers
- Enhance diagnostic capability, thus reducing or eliminating the need for more expensive or invasive tests and procedures
- Provide clearer ultrasound images, especially in difficult-to-image patients
- Guide catheters and needles in 3D space without radiation exposure
Because it can be used in the most delicate conditions without major side effects, ultrasound has become one of the most popular diagnostic methods among both patients and physicians. Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to produce moving images of the body’s internal soft tissue structures. It provides a safe, fast and relatively painless means of diagnostic imaging on an outpatient basis.