Laptop that looks into your heart
New Delhi: An Indian medical technology firm has configured a laptop that can do a heart scan, abdomen scan and even a pregnancy test while retaining its basic functions like writing a note, preparing presentations and sending an email.
“Though portable ultrasound machines are not new in India, the t3000 also doubles up as a laptop,†said A B Sivasankar, director (imaging) of Trivitron Medical Systems.
He said the system runs on a standard laptop computer, which is equipped with a ‘fusion processor’ – a custom-designed, integrated ultrasound chipset.
The t3000 is designed for general-, vascular-, and breast-imaging; interventional radiology; image-guided intervention; endocrinology; laparoscopy; neuro-sonography; and nephrology.
Shivasankar explained that a sensor attached to the laptop sends sound waves inside the patient’s body, and the laptop – placed nearly half a metre away – displays internal images, blood flow and blockages inside the organ or body part.
The laptop – which weighs around three kilograms, and is capable of a total body scan – costs between Rs 12-30 lakhs, depending on the type of configuration a doctor wants.
Sivasankar said Trivitron got the licence from the US-based Terason company in November and has so far configured just fur such laptops for doctors – two in Bangalore and one each in Chennai and Jaipur.
The laptop, doctors said, helps them do their job more easily and efficiently.
“Now, a patient or a doctor need not always go to a hospital for any kind of tests like heart scan, abdomen scan and even pregnancy tests,†said Vinutha Shivakumar, a radiologist in Bangalore who has used the system to diagnose over 150 patients.
“You can do the scanning at the patient’s bedside, and get the image printouts through the same laptop. The images can also be emailed for convenience of a doctor or a patient,†she added.
