Digital Ultrasound Imaging Systems for the Health Sector

Digital Ultrasound Imaging Systems for the Health Sector
Learn on yet another successful integration of our products

Taberna pro medicum (tpm), based in Germany, develops and supplies medical equipment to both the ophthalmology and dermatology fields. Tpm are pioneers in their field whereby, following 10 years of broad experience in medical ultrasonography, tpm introduced the first commercially available A/B ultrasound system - the DUB 20 - in 1986, designed specifically for dermatology. When tpm decided to upgrade their ISA and DOS-based system to a PCI-based Windows series in 2000, tpm used WinDriver to develop the PCI driver that could run on all Windows operating systems. Now, for tpm's latest endeavor -develop a USB-based system - tpm has once again opted to develop the Windows drivers with WinDriver. Read more about the benefits and operation of this specialized medical equipment as well as how WinDriver was used to speed time to market for tpm engineers.

Tpm's ultrasound system provides a means of non-invasive measurement of various skin-related pathologies: tumors, nevus, skin thickness, conditions related to skin dryness, collagen implants, preoperative thickness measurement of tumors in a non invasive manner, skin treatment checkup/follow-up.

The DUB is delivered as a complete system in a standard PC housing and includes the Ultrasound Applicator (also produced by tpm) based on a PCI interface and Windows OS. (Each applicator being specific to a particular frequency - namely 22, 30, 50, 75 and 100 MHz for the High Frequency Ultrasound System.)

Specifications are shown below:

Hardware

  • A/D-Board with 200 MHz sample rate
  • Bandwidth P/R 100 MHz
  • B-Scan applicator 22 MHz
  • Storage - 100000 Scans
  • 15" TFT-Display
  • internal Modem/ISDN for maintenance
  • LAN10/100
  • CD-Writer
Software
  • Windows 2000 Professional
  • D4W - DUB for Windows
  • Patient oriented database
 
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Tpm's fast A/D converter, enables up to 1 GHz sampling rate. The ultrasound applicator, which is controlled by a PCI controller board is programmed with a Jungo WinDriver-based driver, and a high quality Pulser/Receiver, generates and receives the pulses and signals. WinDriver enables the controlling and mechanical movement of a transducer meaning that control commands and switches send position information to the PC.

When tpm decided to provide a Windows series of PCI-based systems, their rationale for the move was to provide the following benefits to their customers:

  • Print to any Windows-compatible printer
  • Use individual printing templates
  • Export to different graphic formats
  • Copy to other applications via the clipboard
  • Store scans automatically
  • Work with scans more efficiently thanks to patient-oriented database
  • Connect to the network easily
  • Backup via Windows-compatible backup systems
  • Use standard Windows interface
  • Evaluate scans from multiple terminals
  • Maintenance via Modem
DOS just didn't provide these benefits. However tpm developers knew that the driver development for the Windows system would stall their time to market and therefore sought means to eliminate the bottleneck.

"Initially we tried to develop a driver in-house, however it was far too complicated and after 2-3 weeks of frustration, we quit and then searched for a tool to do the job. WinDriver enabled our engineer to get a basic driver up and running in a few minutes for the PCI card, and within a few hours we had a working driver for our system," said Sven Scharenberg tpm Chief Engineer. "The obvious benefits were its absolutely ease of use and very fast development time. Great software!"

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  Tpm DUB Software Showing Scans

The software provided with the system facilitates evaluation of the images, such as measurements in all directions, as well as specific area and density measurements. The user is able to alternate between different viewings and colors, compare images and measurements. Images can be exported and printed. Of greatest importance to doctors are the different viewing and measuring tools.

A USB System in the Making
The rationale behind the development of a USB-based DUB system, is that it will enable provision of a stand-alone system, independent of a particular PC, that can be connected to any PC with a USB port. A USB system will also reduce cost per system.

Tpm estimates that the USB-based system will be released in Q1 2004. Tpm have just started their USB development with WinDriver for USB, and aim to control their whole system via the USB port - i.e. all previous control that was carried out via the PCI port such as motor control and the A/D-converter will now be external and will communicate via the USB port. All the scanned information is being channeled via WinDriver USB from the tpm External USB DUB System to the PC User Interface Software. High Speed data transfer is a requirement and the system therefore has to be based on USB 2.0 (Both USB 1.1 and 2.0 are supported by WinDriver).

Tpm's high frequency digital ultrasound imaging systems provide frequencies of up to 100 MHz ultrasound transducers providing a resolution of up to 16µm in the skin, making tpm as of this time, the only company to offer such systems. Tpm targets hospitals, large clinics, army, research institutes, and research companies such as Unilever, Philips, Henkel, Schering and others. Besides high frequency ultrasound imaging systems, tpm are exclusive distributors in Germany for the VEP/ERG system (also known as EMS) for the ophthalmology field. Taberna pro medicum are located in Lueneburg, Germany and can be contacted at: Phone: +49 - 4131 -401555 or eMail: info@tpm-online.de