World’s First Ultrasound Kiosk - Sonosite X-Porte - Receives FDA Approval

As specialists in devising technologically advanced ultrasound tools and world-leading education for access to point-of-care visualization, FUJIFILM SonoSite, Inc. has been awarded FDAi 510(k) clearance for its latest generation of point-of-care ultrasound: the X-Porte™ Ultrasound Kiosk. 

US delivery of the SonoSite X-Porte kiosk will now begin, whereas stationary or a detachable use models are already available in parts of Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Kevin M. Goodwin, SonoSite President and CEO, sees this as a milestone accomplishment and key in the next stage of the company’s  innovation strategy. He explains that by collaborating with hundreds of clinicians internationally, SonoSite blended healthcare professionals’ insights with their own engineers’ inspiration and combined it all with the latest consumer technologies to design an extraordinary new tool.

Improving access to point-of-care ultrasound visualisation is at the forefront of SonoSite’s objectives and the The X-Porte kiosk was devised with a wide array of users in mind, whether new or seasoned.

The internationally acclaimed innovation is powered by SonoSite's Extreme Definition ImagingTM (XDI) technology, allowing for a seamless user interface and sophisticated image quality.

XDI was created following 35 years of applied ultrasound research by the company's Chief Technology Officer, JJ Hwang, and it has achieved a major reduction of visual clutter from side-lobe artifacts which customarily affects all sizes of ultrasound imaging systems.

Describing the XDI technology as "an entirely new way to create an ultrasound image” by realising a much higher resolution, Hwang is convinced that a new bar has been set in point-of-care image quality thanks to the visual clutter reduction.

Equipped with pioneering visual learning guides and an industry-leading five-year warranty, X-Porte is capable of delivering optimal interoperability and usability, maximising the XDI technology by synchronously integrating high-resolution ultrasound imaging with 3D animations and consistently making the most of the technology. 

Pointing out the design’s advantages, Goodwin states that it empowers users to take advantage of X-Porte's high-performance visualization, regardless of their level of expertise. 

In order to achieve the highest possible result, leading product designers and experts in advanced automotive animation modeling and distance medical learning were consulted for the creation of the 3D application modules. Led by Scott Dulchavsky, MD, PhD, Henry Ford Hospital Chair of Surgery, who has pioneered medical training tutorials for astronauts, a consortium of expert physician educators contributed their know-how. 

Dulchavsky is excited to collaborate with SonoSite in making such an evolutionary step in real-time learning. According to him, the X-Porte Kiosk embodies the successful combination of the company’s advanced animated tutorials expertise with the newest latest in consumer-like ultrasound design.

SonoSite's Design Team devised the Kiosk for seamless workflow in a variety of environments, and the device’s multi-touch, innovative, gesture-driven user interface allows for personalisation and easy control without keys or buttons.

Thanks to its sealed user interface tested against incidental spills, the screen is easy to keep clean with a number of disinfectant products and facilitates ideal infection control. With its lean profile the X-Porte can be navigated easily alongside corridors and patient beds and detachability of the ultrasound core allows for easy upgrade via software updates or even exchange.