Medical Expo recently featured Clarius Mobile Health in its “Innovation Focus” column. They spoke with Clarius Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Dave Willis about what sets their handheld wireless ultrasound scanners apart from the alternatives. Following is an excerpt from the article:

ME e-mag: Where do you see such a portable, wireless device being most useful?

Dave Wilson: Ideally, we see this as extremely valuable when you want to take a quick look at a patient. We see it as important for guiding anesthesia nerve blocks, anything musculoskeletal, line placements and emergency care. Also, anywhere that access to computed tomography or MRI is limited, it adds diagnostic information.

It gives you a good quick look and works well for telemedicine applications.

Ultrasound is very sensitive to blood in the abdomen and other parts of the body. We see it as a very useful first look in emergency care. We see it as extremely valuable in areas where access to radiology is poor or there is a long wait for CT or MRI. In remote emergency or trauma situations, a scan can be done and reviewed through a smartphone. It gives you a good quick look and works well for telemedicine applications.

One application that surprised us is obstetrics. But obstetricians told us that often ultrasound rooms are backed up, and that sometimes all that they need is a quick look to see whether the head is up or down, and to check the placenta. Another place that this might prove valuable is in home healthcare, which is replacing hospitalization for some patients.

Read the full article here.