Mobile/pocket ultrasounds

[TheTruckGuy]

Anyone have any cool ultrasounds that are highly mobile and have a relatively decent picture? The Butterfly IQ US looks really cool at a decent price (especially considering it's 3 probes in one), but it requires an annual subscription. I'm not doing.

Looking for something that could be used in a field environment for everything from starting IVs and draining abscesses to eFAST exams.

Thanks

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[Groove]

Anyone have any cool ultrasounds that are highly mobile and have a relatively decent picture? The Butterfly IQ US looks really cool at a decent price (especially considering it's 3 probes in one), but it requires an annual subscription. I'm not doing.

Looking for something that could be used in a field environment for everything from starting IVs and draining abscesses to eFAST exams.

Thanks

Are you a med student? If you are, I think spending 2K on a portable US device is a complete waste of money. That being said, the butterfly annual subscription is not required. You just can't upload images to the cloud if you aren't a subscriber. Regardless, I think it's the best portable device out there right now.

 

[MechEDoc]

Yes. I've used both the Philips Lumify and the Butteryfly IQ. The lumify is much more expensive but produces notably better images. The Butterfly IQ is good enough for most quick and dirty answers in the ER. My understanding is that Butterfly IQ doesn't require a subscription for use, just for the cloud storage feature. You can buy it and then cancel the subscription after the first year.

 

[TheTruckGuy]

Are you a med student? If you are, I think spending 2K on a portable US device is a complete waste of money.

No, former EM intern, current military GMO. Spent the past few weeks in the field, and an US would've been handy once or twice for minor stuff. Not worth it for where I was, but I can see it being useful during other, larger and more prolonged exercises, actual emergencies, or even just in my regular clinic.

Honestly, I just want a cool gadget. Not sure I'd pay more than $500 for one in my current position. Would be cool if the military let us check them out though.

 

[BoardingDoc]

No, former EM intern, current military GMO.

Side question. I thought that if you don't match, you do a military or civilian TY and then either reapply or get assigned as a GMO. Is there a situation where you do a PGY1 in EM and then get pulled to do a GMO stint?

 

[pkwraith]

Do you get CME? I get a lot of CME funds and I spent some of mine on a Butterfly instead of the normal money laundering avenue that people use. The annual subscription is only required for the first year. I find the butterfly pretty useful for most of the tasks you wanted.

 

[TheTruckGuy]

Side question. I thought that if you don't match, you do a military or civilian TY and then either reapply or get assigned as a GMO. Is there a situation where you do a PGY1 in EM and then get pulled to do a GMO stint?

Depends on service. In the Navy everyone reapplies after PGY1 year regardless of whether they matched into a categorical slot or not. And then all those folks coming back from their time as GMOs also reapply for those PGY2 slots.

I didn't apply for a PGY2 slot because I wanted to get out there and do cool stuff that I wouldn't get to do as an attending.

Do you get CME? I get a lot of CME funds and I spent some of mine on a Butterfly instead of the normal money laundering avenue that people use. The annual subscription is only required for the first year. I find the butterfly pretty useful for most of the tasks you wanted.

No free checks for CME. I think you can sometimes get them to reimburse for very specific conferences and such, but that's about it.


I would make the argument that every clinic should have at least 1-2 portable ultrasounds for use in clinic and that can be checked out for use in the field, but the reality is that most don't get very good ultrasound training as PGY1s.

 

[Jabbed]

I bought one recently. The three main ones on the market are Lumify, VScan, and Butterfly.

-The Lumify produces clearly better images, although costs several times more than the competition

-VScan is good. You can buy an ex-demo phased array probe for $3500. You do lose out by not having a curvilinear probe, which is arguably the most commonly used probe for EM US. The main draw for the VScan over the Butterfly is better cardiac imaging.

-The Butterfly is by far the cheapest and most versatile. As another poster alluded, the annual fee is not mandatory after the first year. They have PACS integration and I can see groups integrating this into billing in the future, which means that your annual subscription could likely be compensated, if not significantly cheaper. Cardiac imaging is unfortunately limited due to the lack of harmonics. In most patients you have to abduct the arm and position in decubitus in order to get adequate endocardial visualization. In all other regards it is very, very good. The main advantage is being able to easily switch between different probe settings on the fly.

Most cardiac POCUS is yes/no in nature. No handheld ultrasound afaik has pulse wave or continuous doppler integration, which again limits what you're able to do with handheld cardiac ultrasound.

I ended up buying the Butterfly and do not regret it.

 

[norski]

As someone who exclusively uses US for a-lines, mid/picc-lines and peripherals, I'm very impressed with the imaging capabilities of the Vscan (hammerhead probe). My wife, who is managing the local EM service on the doc side of things, just ordered a butterfly IQ, looking forward to trying it out. Her, and her colleagues, use will be more oriented towards FAST scans, not lines.

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[TheTruckGuy]

As someone who exclusively uses US for a-lines, mid/picc-lines and peripherals, I'm very impressed with the imaging capabilities of the Vscan (hammerhead probe). My wife, who is managing the local EM service on the doc side of things, just ordered a butterfly IQ, looking forward to trying it out. Her, and her colleagues, use will be more oriented towards FAST scans, not lines.

Sent from my LYA-L29 using SDN mobile

When you get a chance to compare, please let me know.

 

[norski]

When you get a chance to compare, please let me know.

Absolutely.

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