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ContextVision targets OB/GYN ultrasound market

by Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | September 14, 2011
Ultrasound image enhanced
by GOPiCE US (Credit: ContextVision)
Earlier this year, ContextVision showed off its latest ultrasound image-enhancement software at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine's conference. Now the Stockholm-based company is reaching out to obstetricians and gynecologists with a similar suite of software to help scan obese pregnant women and better diagnose fetal deformities.

The programs, US PLUSView and GOPiCE US, provide image enhancement for 2-D, 3-D and 4-D imaging. GOPiCE, a real-time filtering product which enhances volumetric acquisitions, speeds up processing time, the company said.

But the main emphasis of the new technology is possibly Clinical Direct Focused Enhancement (DFE), which lets doctors focus on and enhance a specific area of the fetus to look for abnormalities or lesions. This is one of the first ultrasound programs to offer such a feature, the company said.

"It's a real game changer in the world of image enhancement for ultrasound," Don Barry, product manager with ContextVision, told DOTmed News.

ContextVision said this could be especially helpful for what are known as "technically difficult" patients, such as the overweight and the obese. Because of ultrasound's low penetrating energy, scans of bigger patients can lack clear diagnostic detail.

"As they get larger, it's more and more difficult to spot these fetal defects," Barry said. "So what we're doing is making it easier for the sonographers to get good diagnostic quality images."

As with ContextVision's other products, the software is marketed directly to OEMs. Manufacturers then bundle the software, with their own branding, in their own products. The software has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, and is available now.

Currently, Barry said the company is hoping to share new clinical data from a study they're planning with a Boston hospital, at the Radiological Society of North America's meeting later this year. In the meantime, though, you can check out the product next week at ISUOG 2011, which runs from September 18 to 22, in Los Angeles.

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