Healthcare Technology Featured Article

March 01, 2013

South African Researchers Develop New Lower-cost Doppler Ultrasound Machine


While Doppler ultrasound technology has a number of important applications in healthcare, there has been one historical barrier to its widespread use: cost. In many developing nations, healthcare facilities simply cannot afford Doppler ultrasound equipment, which leaves patients with less-than-optimal quality in their health services…particularly pregnant women.

Doppler ultrasound is used in obstetrics to measure blood flow in the fetus’ umbilical cord to determine if it is abnormally small for gestational age (SGA) or sick, which usually occurs if the placenta is not providing enough blood flow to maintain the fetus on the standard growth curve.

Now, scientists in South Africa say they have developed a solution for lower-cost ultrasound in the care of pregnant women. Researchers from South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Medical Research Council have developed a low-cost Doppler ultrasound device, known as Umbiflow, which will improve primary healthcare services for pregnant women. The scientists have taken conventional (and expensive) ultrasound technology – these devices can cost up to $169,000 -- and customized it in such a way that more pregnant women in South Africa can benefit from it.

Jeremy Wallis, manager of the sensor science and technology competence area at the CSIR, told the Website SouthAfrica.info that Umbiflow makes it possible to perform umbilical blood flow assessments at primary healthcare clinics, removing the need to always refer patients to specialists.

The new, lower-cost devices are expected to help South Africa’s Department of Health meet its priorities to decrease child mortality (South Africa is 164th out of 220 countries); and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system. The Umbiflow device has been tested widely on thousands of patients, and the results show Umbiflow is as accurate as conventional, more expensive Doppler ultrasound equipment, reports SouthAfrica.info.




Edited by Brooke Neuman
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