BOTHELL, WA - November 20, 2008 - Sonosite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader and specialist in hand-carried ultrasound for the point-of-care, today announced the S-FAST™ Vascular Access option, a streamlined, affordable solution for hospitals wanting to incorporate ultrasound into their emergency departments to facilitate the accuracy and safety of commonly performed interventional emergent procedures. "Sonosite has led the way with innovative products designed for point-of-care use," said Diku Mandavia, MD, FACEP, FRCPC, Attending Staff, Department of Emergency Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Clinical Associate Professor Emergency Medicine, LA County + USC Medical Center, Los Angeles. "Both the U.S. Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK have recommended ultrasound guidance of central vascular access as a standard of care for ensuring patient safety. It's difficult to imagine practicing emergency medicine today without ultrasound guidance."
"Using ultrasound reveals anatomy previously unseen. It removes the practitioners' blindfold, and allows them to first confirm whether a procedure is indicated and then perform the procedure more safely and effectively by visually guiding the intervention," said Paul R. Sierzenski, MD, RDMS, FAAEM, FACEP, Director of Emergency, Trauma and Critical Care Ultrasound, and Director, Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship, Christiana Care Health System of Newark, Delaware.
"Evidence-based medicine has shown that ultrasound guidance improves accuracy and decreases the number of attempts to correctly place both peripheral and central venous access, which in turn results in efficient and superior patient care. Further, when compared to the landmark technique, using ultrasound allows a visual confirmation of vessel position and patency in addition to the benefits associated with needle guidance. The S-FAST Vascular Access option provides an excellent entry point for emergency departments wanting to incorporate the benefits of ultrasound into their practice."
1 Shown at the recent annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Chicago, the S-FAST Vascular Access option includes the L25x/13-6 MHz linear array transducer for high resolution vascular imaging and access. The S-FAST device can be used on a stand or be mounted on the wall or from the ceiling to free up space in crowded examination areas. The form factor of the S-FAST ultrasound tool represents a dramatic departure for ultrasound and offers a highly intuitive user interface that is easy to learn and quick to deploy.
Buttons, dials and menus have been stripped to the essentials. Advanced, proprietary algorithms allow emergency medicine physicians to get the optimum image by adjusting only two controls - Depth and Gain. Ready to image in seconds from a cold start, the S-FAST ultrasound tool exceeds military specifications for ruggedness and a sealed user interface resists contamination from bodily fluids and can be wiped down with disinfectant. The S-FAST system is based on an expandable platform so customers can add capabilities, often as software upgrades, as their department requirements change. As with Sonosite's other S Series products, the S-FAST Vascular Access option comes with an industry-leading 5-year warranty on the system and transducer. Sonosite also offers extensive training and education programs delivered on site, online and in collaboration with leading medical institutions and educators.
1Drs. Mandavia and Sierzenski are educational consultants to Sonosite.
About Sonosite
Sonosite, Inc. (www.sonosite.com) is the innovator and world leader in hand-carried ultrasound. Headquartered near Seattle, the company is represented by ten subsidiaries and a global distribution network in over 100 countries. Sonosite's small, lightweight systems are expanding the use of ultrasound across the clinical spectrum by cost-effectively bringing high performance ultrasound to the point of patient care. The company employs over 600 people worldwide.
"Using ultrasound reveals anatomy previously unseen. It removes the practitioners' blindfold, and allows them to first confirm whether a procedure is indicated and then perform the procedure more safely and effectively by visually guiding the intervention," said Paul R. Sierzenski, MD, RDMS, FAAEM, FACEP, Director of Emergency, Trauma and Critical Care Ultrasound, and Director, Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship, Christiana Care Health System of Newark, Delaware.
"Evidence-based medicine has shown that ultrasound guidance improves accuracy and decreases the number of attempts to correctly place both peripheral and central venous access, which in turn results in efficient and superior patient care. Further, when compared to the landmark technique, using ultrasound allows a visual confirmation of vessel position and patency in addition to the benefits associated with needle guidance. The S-FAST Vascular Access option provides an excellent entry point for emergency departments wanting to incorporate the benefits of ultrasound into their practice."
1 Shown at the recent annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Chicago, the S-FAST Vascular Access option includes the L25x/13-6 MHz linear array transducer for high resolution vascular imaging and access. The S-FAST device can be used on a stand or be mounted on the wall or from the ceiling to free up space in crowded examination areas. The form factor of the S-FAST ultrasound tool represents a dramatic departure for ultrasound and offers a highly intuitive user interface that is easy to learn and quick to deploy.
Buttons, dials and menus have been stripped to the essentials. Advanced, proprietary algorithms allow emergency medicine physicians to get the optimum image by adjusting only two controls - Depth and Gain. Ready to image in seconds from a cold start, the S-FAST ultrasound tool exceeds military specifications for ruggedness and a sealed user interface resists contamination from bodily fluids and can be wiped down with disinfectant. The S-FAST system is based on an expandable platform so customers can add capabilities, often as software upgrades, as their department requirements change. As with Sonosite's other S Series products, the S-FAST Vascular Access option comes with an industry-leading 5-year warranty on the system and transducer. Sonosite also offers extensive training and education programs delivered on site, online and in collaboration with leading medical institutions and educators.
1Drs. Mandavia and Sierzenski are educational consultants to Sonosite.
About Sonosite
Sonosite, Inc. (www.sonosite.com) is the innovator and world leader in hand-carried ultrasound. Headquartered near Seattle, the company is represented by ten subsidiaries and a global distribution network in over 100 countries. Sonosite's small, lightweight systems are expanding the use of ultrasound across the clinical spectrum by cost-effectively bringing high performance ultrasound to the point of patient care. The company employs over 600 people worldwide.