Point-of-care ultrasound solutions improving access to diagnostic information for detection of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, Trauma (FAST exam) and Pulmonary Edema

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Ultrasound has found wide clinical diagnostic acceptance with portable systems already in use for triage in urgent care We propose to radically improve access to high quality imaging for detection of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Trauma FAST exam and Pulmonary Edema through two point of care developments Device A a hand held phased array system which connects via USB to a commodity tablet for its display and power Device B a telemedicine phased array which can be operated by an untrained user and generates volume data for remote interpretation Device A has a low enough cost to be broadly deployed to urgent care physicians and paramedics with basic ultrasound skills Device B is entirely operator independent and can be used by untrained individuals in rural aviation disaster relief and military settings A remote physician viewing te volume data Device B acquires will make the diagnosis To deliver these medical benefits we plan to bring together innovations in Transducers to substantially decrease system power consumption We propose using a recently developed micromechanical MEMS device to achieve this Image reconstruction Our mathematical approach differs from the beam formation in use in standard ultrasound systems and enables compact low cost electronics while maintaining high image quality System design to achieve a product cost which will significantly broaden access to ultrasound imaging in the three target applications In Phase I Device Aandapos s design will be risk reduced and specified The goal of Phase II is to produce and clinically evaluate a prototype The technology developed in Phases I and II will be directly applied to commercialization of Device A and Device B PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE The purpose of this proposal is to disruptively increase access to the benefits of point of care ultrasonic imaging The initial device has a low enough cost to be broadly deployed to emergency room and primary care physicians as well as paramedics with basic ultrasound skills The follow on product is fully operator independent designed for use by untrained individuals in new settings Service locations include rural and rd world diagnostic care aviation emergencies disaster recovery and on the battlefield A remote physician will view volume data from it to make the diagnosis End of Abstract