State-of-the-art GE Ultrasound Equipment Help Vets At Greenwich Park Equine Hospital

Marie Rippingale from Scarsdales with the GE Logiq-e ultrasound scanner at the equine hospital at Greenwich Park. BCF Technology help with GE ultrasound systems used to diagnose injured horses at London 2012 Organisers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games have ensured that even the horses receive the best possible care. A purpose-built veterinary clinic in Greenwich has been kitted out with state-of-the-art equipment to treat competing horses from every nation. The challenging cross-country phase at Greenwich Park for example, saw 15 riders fall during the Olympic eventing competition. While the injuries sustained in a cross country accident can be career ending, access to the very latest imaging technology can help vets to ensure a swift and accurate diagnosis and a more positive outcome for the patient. The clinic is equipped with two GE Ultrasound machines including the GE Logiq-e (for musculoskeletal and abdominal scanning). These machines were commissioned to meet the need for pre-set equipment and supplied and supported by BCF Technology. Additional benefits include:

• Excellent image quality, allowing the exact location of strains and lesions to be identified
• Small and portable, making it possible to work around the horse
• Reductions in scan time. Both machines produce high quality images quickly without machine settings having to be optimized, and the Tru-scan archive function makes post scan image manipulation, measurement and annotation possible.
• Coded harmonic imaging on all probes to increase image quality
• CrossXBbeam™ imaging, providing high resolution images of equine distal limb and stifle
• Deep musculoskeletal imaging for imaging fractures of pelvis or ribs which cannot be radiographed effectively due to the dimensions of the horse

Said Roy Tappin, General Manager, Ultrasound, GE Healthcare, UK & Ireland: “We are proud to be providing some of our latest imaging technology to the London 2012 Equine Clinic and the Polyclinic as part of our sponsorship of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. While we specialise in products for use in human medicine, the veterinary market is extremely important to us and we currently supply our equipment to many of the world’s leading veterinary hospitals. Many of the UK’s top vets specify our machines because they produce high quality images which help them make a more confident diagnosis .” Professor Roger Smith, Professor of Equine Orthopaedics at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), is a frequent user of GE imaging equipment and one of the specialists working at the Equine Clinic during the Games. Speaking about the technology he commented: “The GE diagnostic ultrasound equipment used at the Equine Clinic is essential for evaluating the tendon and ligament injuries to which competition horses are prone. The quality of the images it produces helps us decide on the best possible treatment for the horse, giving it the greatest chance of full recovery.” Nigel Perry from BCF Technology added: ”With our specialist knowledge of animal imaging, in this case specifically equine imaging, we were called upon to support the equine equipment at the equine hosiptal. It has been very satisfying to see the equipment help vets from all around the world.” Gaynor Minshall from Newmarket Equine Clinic working as part of the Veterinary Services team at the London 2012 Olympic Games said: “There are a lot of reasons for us to have ultrasound imaging equipment here at the Equine Clinic. We use this primarily for musculoskeletal imaging and for assessing any trauma sustained during events such as Cross-Country, helping us to diagnose the best possible treatment for recovery”.

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