Dr. David Bahner (MD, RDMS, FACEP) is an emergency medicine physician in Ohio. He took a Sonosite ultrasound system along on an expedition to Antarctica.
At the invitation of Dr. Carmine Valente, I enrolled on an expedition to the continent of Antarctica. Dr. Valente had also invited three radiologists, Dr. Brian Coley (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital), Dr. Torben Loretzen, and Dr. Christian Nolsoe. We flew into Buenos Aires Argentina and then flew to Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world. They brand the city of Ushuaia as the Fin del Mundo or the “End of the World”. We embarked on the MV Corinthian and sailed out of the Beagle Channel and across the Drake passage.
After a 2 day journey through the roughest seas in the world, we arrived at the Shetland Islands of Antarctica. We landed on Antarctica at Aitcho island and performed an ultrasound using the iViz portable device. We made 9 landings in total and this included one continental landing.
The expedition consisted of sailing through the Antarctic peninsula and disembarking via zodiac boats to land at each destination. We transported the iViz in a backpack. After exploring the various areas, we would pull the iViz out of the backpack and perform an ultrasound scan to test the feasibility of this tool in a remote, cold environment. It was ideal for this environment and performed scans, saved B mode and color images, and was able to store cases. It was feasible to use this device in the remote environment of Antarctica. Its portability and functionality were impressive in this part of the world.
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