With its premium features and large userfriendly display, the new Noblus from Hitachi Aloka Medical was developed as a diagnostic ultrasound platform that can be used in many different clinical settings for a wide variety of examinations. The Noblus is designed in the form of a laptop PC with an optional cart, bringing a flexibility of style optimizing its use, whether on a desk in the consultation room, at the patient bedside in ICU, or in an emergency room. As a winner of the Good Design Award 2012, the quality of its design has already been acknowledged by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Although compact in design, Noblus has premium features that can be exploited in many different applications, including Realtime Tissue Elastography, a premium feature previously found only on larger cartbased systems, which is used to assess the relative elasticity of tissue, providing increased diagnostic confidence in the benign or malignant nature of lesions in the breast, thyroid, prostate, gastrointestinal tract, and many others. Migrated from high-end HI VISION systems, Hitachi Aloka’s Ultra BE, the digital signal circuit dedicated to ultrasound processing, brings reliable diagnostic performance and premium image quality. Noblus has its own dedicated range of smart connector transducers for standard applications, and is compatible with many transducers from the HI VISION series: specialist transducers for biopsy, interventional, intraoperative, endocavity and endoscopic examinations; and it also supports Single Crystal transducers where the entire element array is created from a single crystal, providing higher sensitivity and wider bandwidths than achieved with traditional transducers. Its space-saving design allows the operating console to fold up, providing more desk space between exams. Equipped with a battery and supporting wireless DICOM communication, Noblus offers smooth mobility for portable rounds within the hospital. Smart Touch Feature allows parameter adjustment by direct touch of the screen, allowing the examiner to maintain his focus on the ultrasound image.
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The VesselNavigator is a 3D catheter navigation system to guide the minimally invasive treatment of patients with vascular diseases such as aortic aneurysms. It is designed for use in conjunction with Philips’interventional X-ray systems, enhances the precision and accuracy of stent placement, while at the same time significantly reducing contrast medium usage. As a result, minimally invasive treatment options will be available to patients previously unable to benefit from new image-guided intervention techniques. Developed in collaboration with clinical partners such as the University Hospital Cologne (Germany) and the University Hospital Ghent (Belgium), VesselNavigator complements Philips’current imageguided therapy portfolio within the field of endovascular and hybrid suite solutions. It addresses the need for advanced 3D live-image guidance solutions, as the treatment for vascular disease is experiencing a major transition from open surgery to minimally invasive procedures, with such procedure volumes growing at high single-digit rates. During endovascular procedures a catheter is manoeuvred, with the aid of image guidance, through major arteries or veins in order to locally position and deploy implants such as stents to reinforce the wall of the affected blood vessel. Using conventional 2D X-ray image guidance, clinicians oft en perceive the visualization of the vessel anatomy during these procedures as if a dimension is missing, adding to procedure complexity. Many are more familiar with open surgery, during which they can physically see and touch the blood vessels they are trying to repair. VesselNavigator brings back the 3D anatomy they were used to seeing in open surgery. It can be used for all types of endovascular procedures, but one of its key applications is guidance during the treatment of aortic aneurysms, which if left untreated could lead to severe complications such as massive internal bleeding. At the location of the aneurysm, the aorta oft en has smaller side branches, such as those that supply blood to the patient’s kidneys. Custom-made stents are therefore oft en made with dedicated openings that need to be precisely registered with these feeding vessels in order to repair the aorta and maintain critical blood flow to other abdominal organs. With conventional X-ray imaging it is very challenging to position the stent in the precise orientation. Endovascular aortic aneurysm repair is therefore a very complex procedure, and the more time it takes, the more contrast medium is needed for X-ray visualization and guidance in order to succeed. Vessel- Navigator fuses live interventional X-ray images with pre-acquired 3D MRI or CT images of the patient’s vascular structures. The resulting 3D colour-coded images of the vessels provide enhanced real-time visual guidance, making it easier to manoeuvre through the vascular network without the need to enhance the X-ray visualization with the repeated use of an injected contrast medium. In recent studies, VesselNavigator has been shown to reduce contrast medium usage by 70% and procedure times by 18%, contributing to more patient friendly, more efficient and more cost effective treatment of vascular conditions. With a growing population of elderly and diabetic people who suffer from poor kidney function, reducing contrast medium requirements will open up endovascular treatments to a wider range of patients. The strong growth in image-guided therapy procedures is driven by the significant benefits they off er for healthcare systems and patients, including reduced patient trauma, shorter hospital stays, and lower healthcare costs.
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The Cobia Sense offers a convenient way to make the regular constancy checks of X-ray equipment.  It is dedicated for use with an external detector such as RTI Dose Probe, Light Probe, CT ion chamber or external Invasive mAs probe. The wide selection of external probes enables a big flexibility in the performance of regular constancy checks for most modalities. The measured values can be read directly from the large and clear display that features the Cobia’s familiar and easy-to-navigate menu structure. The Cobia Sense is targeted for routine constancy checks, with the ambition to make those tasks quick and easy. Thanks to the Plug-and-Play functionality the Cobia Sense will automatically recognize the different detectors that are connected and instantly be ready for measurements. This together with the easy-to-read display makes it a suitable tool also for untrained users. There is no need to reset between measurements, so the user can remain in the control room until all measurements are made. The practical data log allows storage of measurements for later viewing. Besides English, the instrument can be run in several languages such as Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. This can easily be selected via the menu.

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MyLab Six is a complete cart-based system that can be used across a broad range of applications from cardiovascular to general imaging and women’s health. It comes with highly advanced CV features, including Compass M-Mode, Tissue Velocity Mapping, Stress Echo, XStrain and QIMT – combining to ensure complete confidence in any diagnosis. The system offers a premium yet affordable solution to customers in terms of performance, flexibility of applications and mobility. Easy workflow options and automation of key options maximize patient throughput without compromising image quality or diagnostic confidence. MyLab Six has been designed with the comfort of the user as a key priority. The rotating keyboard can easily be made higher or lower according to user preference. Similarly, an articulated arm for the screen increases comfort, as well as enabling the sharing of results with a patient or colleague quickly and easily. Ergonomic features include appleprobes
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