Earlier this month, handheld ultrasound specialist Clarius Mobile Health announced it would be bringing a capability dubbed Voice Controls to its ultrasound scanners.
The new feature, which is available to all customers on Clarius’ Membership subscription service, allows users to control a number of imaging parameters with only their voice, enabling their hands to remain free to perform imaging examinations. The tool, which is powered by AI, allows users to adjust settings such as gain and depth, freeze images, switch imaging modes and to capture images and videos.
It is not the first time voice control capabilities have been offered on ultrasound devices, but does it make sense for Clarius’ customers, or is it just a gimmick?
In the latest sign of consolidation in the maturing AI market, Philips has announced that it is acquiring ultrasound AI specialist DiA Imaging Analysis (DiA).
The Dutch healthcare vendor has agreed to pay almost $100m for DiA, whose focus is on improving cardiac ultrasound imaging. The vendors have an established history together, with Philips forging a partnership with the Israeli firm in 2021 which enabled DiA’s solutions to be utilised by clinicians using Philip’s point-of-care ultrasound solutions. Later that year, Philips also participated in the AI developer’s latest funding round, as part of a cohort that netted DiA $14m, and gave Philips a five percent stake in the Israeli start-up.
The acquisition builds on this partnership, and will allow Philips to further leverage DiA’s nine FDA-approved solutions, but does it say more about Philips’ ongoing strategy?
The handheld ultrasound market is the fastest growing product segment in ultrasound and among the fastest growing in medical imaging. Solutions have become more refined over recent years, offering better image quality, wireless probes and advanced software, all of which are facilitating their uptake by new and experienced users alike.
Despite the segment’s growth however, one of the market’s most high-profile names, Butterfly Network, is facing a difficult spell. The vendor’s latest financial results were disappointing and its share price is just a fraction of what it was in 2021. The vendor is looking to change its fortunes, and, with the appointment of a new CEO, it hopes to rally, but is it too late?
The consumerisation of healthcare and the technology upon which it relies is one of the most talked about trends in medical imaging. It is, after all, targeting an enormous potential market. There have been some small successes, in handheld ultrasound, for example. Some vendors’ ambitions of patients investing in their own medical imaging system in order to monitor their own health conditions, as they would a blood pressure monitor, remain a distant ambition. However, there are instances, such as that spearheaded by Pulsenmore, which see patients, under the supervision of professionals, conduct scans on themselves at home, a step, if not a leap in the general direction.
It has been rarer for companies to hold ambitions to move in the opposite direction. One Chinese vendor, however, is attempting such a transition.
The start of this month saw vendors, providers and radiologists alike gather in Vienna to attend the European Society of Radiology’s headline meeting, the European Congress of Radiology (ECR).
After several years of disruption thanks to the global Covid-19 pandemic, which saw events canceled, rescheduled or made 100% virtual, ECR 2023 marked the first time since 2019 that the meeting returned to its established late winter slot. Matching this return to tradition was also a return to form, with an event that, unlike last year’s event when Covid-19 had a greater impact on vendors’ decisions to attend and coincided with many would-be attendees’ summer holidays, saw footfall closer to those seen before the pandemic at 17,000 attendees compared to 23,000 in 2019.
That isn’t to say Covid’s impact has been completely expunged from the show. While ECR itself has largely returned to normal, the pandemic has left providers with difficult challenges which vendors are helping to solve.
