Portable Diagnostic Ultrasound System Deployed on Soccer Field

A new hand-held point-of-care diagnostic ultrasound system has been deployed by a top soccer club.

The ultrasound system was used to speed up injury diagnosis on the football field, and to reassure the players in case of injury. The Edge system provides diagnostic-quality ultrasound images for near field imaging of knee joints, and muscles.

The system enables a doctor to assess the joints, and ligaments of an injured player on the field, and can be used to guide interventions such as injections into joint spaces in the hip, and shoulder.

The FujiFilm SonoSite (Bothell, WA, USA) Edge system was deployed by Dr. Paul Klein, physician of the German Bundesliga Soccer club 1.FC Köln (Cologne, Germany).

The Edge system is lightweight, robust and mobile, and features image enhancement algorithms to reduce speckle noise and image artifacts, tissue optimization, multibeam imaging, advanced needle visualization, and Sonosite ColorHD technology.

Dr. Klein, said, “When we’re training or playing at home, the players come to my clinic, in Cologne where I have a cart-based ultrasound system. However, it’s not so easy when we’re overseas, and players would almost certainly have to go to a hospital for scans without having a point-of-care ultrasound system available. The Edge was ideal for this trip, allowing me to get good, clear diagnoses very quickly. The players always really appreciated this, as every day counts in professional football [soccer], so when I can see clearly that there is nothing broken, torn or damaged, there is no need to slow down.”

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