SonoSite MicroMaxx Wireless Capability Improves Delivery of Care at Toronto Hospitals

  
    
  
  
    
      SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader in hand-carried 
      ultrasound, today highlighted the gains in patient care that Toronto’s 
      University Health Network (UHN) and Mount Sinai Hospital attribute to 
      their deployment of a single MicroMaxx® 
      hand-carried ultrasound system across three separate emergency 
      departments. The MicroMaxx system is being showcased this week at the 92nd 
      Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, being held 
      at McCormick Place in Chicago, in SonoSite’s 
      Booth #4948.
    
    
      A single on-call sonographer with a MicroMaxx system is able to provide 
      overnight ultrasound services to the emergency departments at 256-bed 
      Toronto Western and 471-bed Toronto General, both part of UHN, and the 
      472-bed Mount Sinai hospitals. With the MicroMaxx system’s 
      advanced wireless connectivity, the sonographer sends images as they are 
      taken to a centralized picture archiving and communication system (PACS) 
      in a radiology suite, where a radiologist provides real-time diagnostic 
      evaluations to the emergency physicians. The MicroMaxx system has been 
      programmed to work seamlessly across the distinct wireless security 
      algorithms deployed by UHN and Mount Sinai, and automatically connects 
      to the PACS network as the sonographer moves from department to 
      department.
    
    
      “With this model, UHN and Mount Sinai have 
      created a flexible, cost-efficient means of ensuring that patients in 
      the emergency department have access to ultrasound imaging services 
      during the overnight hours, during which the hospitals’ 
      radiology suites do not operate,” said Scott 
      Jarrett, Administrative Director for UHN and Mount Sinai’s 
      Joint Department for Medical Imaging. “While 
      we chose the MicroMaxx system for its exceptional image quality, its 
      portability and wireless connectivity have improved our ability to 
      diagnose patients who enter our EDs in the middle of the night. These 
      attributes allow us to provide an additional, value-added service to the 
      emergency department.”
    
    
      “Point-of-care ultrasound exams are now 
      performed in the emergency department, where once overnight patients in 
      the ED had to wait for radiology to re-open for an ultrasound scan,” 
      continued Mr. Jarrett. “Typically a 
      sonographer performing a remote study would archive the images from 
      multiple exams for a single download to the PACS upon return to the 
      department. But the MicroMaxx’s real-time 
      wireless PACS connection allows a remote radiologist to read the images 
      as they are taken and provide immediate feedback to the emergency 
      physician, ultimately contributing to a faster, potentially life-saving 
      diagnosis.”
    
    
      “This smart, creative use of hand-carried 
      ultrasound underscores the unique convergence of exceptional image 
      quality, extreme portability, and advanced wireless connectivity 
      available in the MicroMaxx system,” said 
      Thomas J. Dugan, SonoSite’s Senior Vice 
      President for Marketing and U.S. Sales.
    
    
      “And with its small footprint, light weight, 
      fast boot-up time and long battery life,” Mr. 
      Dugan continued, “the MicroMaxx system is 
      easy to move from patient to patient across three separate emergency 
      departments, one of which is ten minutes away from the others, by car!”
    
    
      About the MicroMaxx System
    
    
      Weighing less than 8 pounds, the portability and high performance of the 
      MicroMaxx system is rapidly changing patient assessment at the point of 
      care in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, vascular access, critical 
      care and even in the physician’s office. A 
      5-year warranty on the system and most of its transducers is a standard 
      feature which dramatically lowers the cost of owning a system in an 
      industry that typically charges 10 - 15% of a product’s 
      purchase price in annual service contracts.
    
    
      About SonoSite
    
    
      SonoSite, Inc. (www.sonosite.com), 
      the innovator and world leader in hand-carried ultrasound, is 
      headquartered near Seattle and is represented by eight subsidiaries and 
      a global distribution network in over 75 countries. SonoSite’s 
      small, lightweight systems are expanding the use of ultrasound across 
      the clinical spectrum by cost-effectively bringing high-performance 
      ultrasound to the point of patient care. The company employs 
      approximately 500 people worldwide.
    
  
SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader in hand-carried
ultrasound, today highlighted the gains in patient care that Toronto's
University Health Network (UHN) and Mount Sinai Hospital attribute to
their deployment of a single MicroMaxx(R) hand-carried ultrasound
system across three separate emergency departments. The MicroMaxx
system is being showcased this week at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the
Radiological Society of North America, being held at McCormick Place
in Chicago, in SonoSite's Booth #4948.

   A single on-call sonographer with a MicroMaxx system is able to
provide overnight ultrasound services to the emergency departments at
256-bed Toronto Western and 471-bed Toronto General, both part of UHN,
and the 472-bed Mount Sinai hospitals. With the MicroMaxx system's
advanced wireless connectivity, the sonographer sends images as they
are taken to a centralized picture archiving and communication system
(PACS) in a radiology suite, where a radiologist provides real-time
diagnostic evaluations to the emergency physicians. The MicroMaxx
system has been programmed to work seamlessly across the distinct
wireless security algorithms deployed by UHN and Mount Sinai, and
automatically connects to the PACS network as the sonographer moves
from department to department.

   "With this model, UHN and Mount Sinai have created a flexible,
cost-efficient means of ensuring that patients in the emergency
department have access to ultrasound imaging services during the
overnight hours, during which the hospitals' radiology suites do not
operate," said Scott Jarrett, Administrative Director for UHN and
Mount Sinai's Joint Department for Medical Imaging. "While we chose
the MicroMaxx system for its exceptional image quality, its
portability and wireless connectivity have improved our ability to
diagnose patients who enter our EDs in the middle of the night. These
attributes allow us to provide an additional, value-added service to
the emergency department."

   "Point-of-care ultrasound exams are now performed in the emergency
department, where once overnight patients in the ED had to wait for
radiology to re-open for an ultrasound scan," continued Mr. Jarrett.
"Typically a sonographer performing a remote study would archive the
images from multiple exams for a single download to the PACS upon
return to the department. But the MicroMaxx's real-time wireless PACS
connection allows a remote radiologist to read the images as they are
taken and provide immediate feedback to the emergency physician,
ultimately contributing to a faster, potentially life-saving
diagnosis."

   "This smart, creative use of hand-carried ultrasound underscores
the unique convergence of exceptional image quality, extreme
portability, and advanced wireless connectivity available in the
MicroMaxx system," said Thomas J. Dugan, SonoSite's Senior Vice
President for Marketing and U.S. Sales.

   "And with its small footprint, light weight, fast boot-up time and
long battery life," Mr. Dugan continued, "the MicroMaxx system is easy
to move from patient to patient across three separate emergency
departments, one of which is ten minutes away from the others, by
car!"

   About the MicroMaxx System

   Weighing less than 8 pounds, the portability and high performance
of the MicroMaxx system is rapidly changing patient assessment at the
point of care in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, vascular access,
critical care and even in the physician's office. A 5-year warranty on
the system and most of its transducers is a standard feature which
dramatically lowers the cost of owning a system in an industry that
typically charges 10 - 15% of a product's purchase price in annual
service contracts.

   About SonoSite

   SonoSite, Inc. (www.sonosite.com), the innovator and world leader
in hand-carried ultrasound, is headquartered near Seattle and is
represented by eight subsidiaries and a global distribution network in
over 75 countries. SonoSite's small, lightweight systems are expanding
the use of ultrasound across the clinical spectrum by cost-effectively
bringing high-performance ultrasound to the point of patient care. The
company employs approximately 500 people worldwide.