The Gaes Titan Desert by Garmin is a 6-day endurance bike race over mountain terrain; the 2017 edition takes place in Morocco. From April 30-May 5, the Titan Desert saw over 463 top-level mountain bikers cover 380 miles of unyielding desert in gruelling conditions.
Dr. Marc Bausili, an anesthetist at the Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona and a member of the Titan Desert medical team, knew what kind of injuries would be the most common, and what kind of equipment would be the most useful.
“We knew from our experience of similar events,” says Bausili, “that with so many participants, and the technical requirements of the race, we also had to be prepared for more serious injuries and decided to take an ultrasound device with us.”
FUJIFILM Sonosite provided an Edge II portable point-of-care ultrasound system to Dr. Bausili’s team for use in attending to injured race participants.
“For the Titan Desert, we… wanted to provide [racers] with the best possible medical service,” explained Bausili. “Ultrasound allowed us to make quick and accurate diagnoses, and even gave us access to anaesthetic guidance on the course.”
Dr. Bausili uses ultrasound every day in his professional life. “Ultrasound devices are really important for guiding analgesia and anaesthesia in operating theatres, as well as for applications such as echocardiography and pulmonary echography in intensive care.”
Having already worked Sonosite ultrasound before, Dr. Bausili explains that he was “familiar with its features, its portability and robustness, and the qualities of the brand.”
“Sonosite instruments are great when it comes to portability,” he added, “and I believe that this quality is paramount to this type of race; the portability and robustness alongside such high imaging performance make it a brand that’s hard to compete with.”
Learn More About the Sonosite Edge II
FUJIFILM Sonosite’s Edge® II point-of-care ultrasound system is designed to be truly portable, providing high quality imaging for the most rugged environments. Developed with emergency medicine and critical care applications in mind, its intuitive interface offers rapid access to frequently used functions, allowing healthcare professionals to spend more time focussing on their patients.
