It’s no secret that liver disease is a growing global health concern. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, liver disease is the 12th leading cause of death in the US. In fact, many people have hepatitis C and may not even know it.
For decades, liver biopsy has been the conventional method for disease assessment, but the pain, expense and wait-time associated with results have proven to be barriers for some patients. Thanks to Philips innovations on the EPIQ liver ultrasound elastography system, there is now a comprehensive all-in-one solution to help clinicians assess, treat and monitor many liver conditions.
•Ultrasound shear wave elastography provides a noninvasive, reproducible, and easily performed method of assessing tissue stiffness.
• Research suggests that instead of a costly and painful biopsy procedure, an easy ultrasound exam including shear wave elastography could become routine for assessing liver disease status.
• ElastQ Imaging high-performance shear wave liver ultrasound elastography features real-time, large Region of Interest (ROI) color-coded quantitative assessment of tissue stiffness.
• ElastQ Imaging also includes the ability to make retrospective measurements on stored images and a unique confidence map display uses intelligent analysis to add additional assurance that user measurements are obtained on tissue areas with adequate shear wave propagation.
Ultrasound contrast agents can transform the role of ultrasound in the liver, allowing the user to study the enhancement patterns of suspicious liver lesions in real time, providing access to faster and more confident diagnoses.
With Philips EPIQ, CEUS is seamlessly integrated into the standard workflow, providing exceptional detail throughout arterial, portal, and late-phase scanning. Additionally, with advanced technologies at your fingertips – such as MaxVue FHD display, PureWave C9-2 transducer, fusion imaging, and Q-App quantification – EPIQ delivers maximum confidence for lesion detection and characterization, even in the most challenging exams.
Image fusion combines the inherent advantages of multimodality imaging directly on the ultrasound system using electromagnetic tracking.
By combining CT/MR/PET with the live ultrasound and real-time position of the patient, the clinician has access to a powerful diagnostic tool which limits radiation due to the need for less conformity scans and maximizing throughput in the department.
EPIQ’s exclusive Anatomical Intelligence Ultrasound (AIUS) comes to image fusion with automated registration of CT/MR and ultrasound volumes– in 1/10 the standard alignment time. Needle Navigation is a performance-enhancing tool for challenging interventional cases in the liver, and has been shown to improve workflow and reduce radiation exposure by using fewer confirmatory scans.
The EPIQ features a full suite of solutions which includes the CIVCO eTrax™, Adaptive Needle Tracker, and Co-axial Needle Trackers.
With such a wide range of compatibility to biopsy and ablation devices, the clinician has freedom to choose the best tools for the procedure depending on the level of complexity.
The liver stiffness measurement is captured in seconds through a simple noninvasive scan.
Ultrasound contrast agents can transform the role of ultrasound, allowing clinicians to study the enhancement patterns of liver lesions in real time, providing faster and more definitive diagnoses. With Philips ultrasound, contrast enhanced ultrasound is seamlessly integrated into the standard workflow, providing exceptional detail.
Make confident decisions even in challenging diagnostic cases with Philips image fusion and needle navigation capabilities. Streamlined workflow allows clinicians to achieve fast and effective fusion of CT/MR/PET with live ultrasound while needle navigation aids in guiding biopsy of small and difficult-to-access lesions.