how do you pick an ultrasound machine?

RE: how do you pick an ultrasound machine?

Camilla Edwards — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 13:12:08 GMT

Thanks for the lovely praise of my website :-) your email is in the "reply to" pile and I will get to it as soon as I can ;-)

RE: how do you pick an ultrasound machine?

David Mills — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 00:03:57 GMT

No machine will perfectly meet all needs but some will meet more of the needs you have than others.

Having completed my cardiology cert about 10 years ago, a very good US machine was a blessing whilst I was studying - at the time this was the Esoate suite of MyLabs which had Doppler and were fantastic for cardio. Having said that I saw practice with a few cardiology specialists and the most impressive was Mike Martin in an unassuming premises near Coventry with an old human machine.

By far the most significant impact on image quality is user skill, and knowledge of US physics/controls. Beware demonstrations that are optimised to make you say 'wow' at the clarity of image.

RE: how do you pick an ultrasound machine?

Beats — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 21:25:39 GMT

Can I ask what machines you have used (and liked!) in recent years? Or any new offerings that you have heard great things about?

Also if you have any experience (good or bad) with any of the IMV offerings that would be really helpful - we have our xray with them and would default to an ultrasound from them too unless there was a specific reason to prefer another supplier's machine.

If you have specific thoughts, but you'd prefer not to comment on a public forum, there is a feature on this forum that you can send a private message - I can send you one and you can reply to it if you like.

Thanks for your thoughts - you're exactly the sort of person who is likely to know what would be needed for a vet to do a cardiology certificate!

The budget is "what is needed" to meet the needs outlined - just don't want to overpay for under-performing unit, or get lumbered with something that it emerges in a couple of years time doesn't have the quality of doppler an aspiring cardiac scanning vet would need/desire.

I'm not too concerned about the customer service aspect as our old machine has needed no assistance in 15 years, but perhaps I'm being naive and newer machines may cause more headaches.

RE: how do you pick an ultrasound machine?

Nuno Neves — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 19:47:43 GMT

Hi!

The choice of a specific machine is usually determined by several aspects, including needs, budget, customer service and personal preference. Like you said, the FOVU site is a good, independent website to have an idea of what is out there and how they perform, but it doesn't explore all the machines available and a good review may not necessarily mean that machine is the best one for you. If you don't have anyone proficient yet in ultrasonography in the practice that can judge the quality of the images, the best I can think of is asking for recommendations on forums like this one, Facebook veterinary groups, etc.. Always make sure that, whatever you buy, they offer good customer service, you will need that a lot during the first weeks while you are trying to tweak the images/settings to your liking.