Handheld Point-of-Care Ultrasound Probes: The New Generation of POCUS

Abstract

Recent advances in ultrasound technology have made ultrasound equipment more versatile, portable, and accessible than ever. Modern handheld, ultra-portable ultrasound devices have been developed by multiple companies and are contributing to make bedside ultrasound evaluation a practice available to all physicians. The significance of making point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) a common practice that all physicians eventually can use in the evaluation of their patients is changing the way medicine is practiced, allowing physicians to quickly obtain valuable information to complement the traditional physical examination. Despite the proven benefits of using bedside ultrasound imaging as a part of the patient evaluation and for procedure guidance, adoption of this technology still is not widespread among anesthesiology clinicians nor is there uniform teaching of ultrasound skills to anesthesia residents and faculty. Among obstacles that have been identified as precluding achievement of the goal of widespread utilization of POCUS among anesthesia professionals and trainees, are the availability of equipment for all physicians when it is needed and lack of instructor supervision for trainees who desire to use ultrasound but do not always have an instructor knowledgeable in POCUS with them when an ultrasound examination is warranted. Herein, the characteristics, advantages, and limitations of available ultra-portable, handheld ultrasound devices are analyzed, with a focus on the Butterfly iQ (Butterfly Network, Inc, Guilford, CT) pocket probe, which is available at the authors’ institution, and how some of its features, such as the capacity to emulate multiple transducers and its cloud-sharing and teleguidance technology, may contribute to increase the availability and use of POCUS by anesthesia clinicians.