Butterfly Network offers the equine practitioner a point-of-care ultrasound with Ultrasound-on-Chip™ technology. In order to assist equine veterinarians better understand how to use the iQ+ Vet ultrasound, Butterfly is creating an equine Ultrasound Reference Library on EquiManagement.com.
Butterfly has reinvented ultrasound technology from the ground up, replacing fragile and expensive piezo crystals with a single silicon chip—what we call our Ultrasound-on-Chip™ technology. The chip, made from an array of thousands of programmable micro-machined sensors (you can think of this as a grid of very small drums) is capable of emulating all three ultrasonic wave patterns with a single probe, all on one handheld device. Through this invention, Butterfly is able to drastically lower the cost of its device by leveraging the same manufacturing as consumer products, allowing for high precision, high quality ultrasound to be produced at scale—making medical imaging more accessible and affordable than ever before.
Butterfly Ultrasound Resource Library
In this Butterfly Ultrasound Resource Library, we will host individual still images and videos to show various anatomical structures along with expert practitioner advice on understanding normal and abnormal structures. This microsite will be developed first to show normal ultrasounds of equine anatomy with the Butterfly iQ+ Vet, followed by abnormalities in specific regions.
This Ultrasound Resource Library will continue to grow with additional normal ultrasound images and articles before we delve into abnormalities that can be detected with the iQ+ Vet point-of-care ultrasound.
We will continue to add to this Resource Library and individual articles will be linked on this section.
- Butterfly Ultrasound Tips: Palmar Metacarpal Soft Tissues
This page is focused on ultrasound of the Palmar Metacarpal Soft Tissues, with information from Cooper Williams, VMD, DACVSMR, Certified ISELP instructor. - Butterfly Ultrasound Tips: Angle Contrast “ACUST” Imaging
Learn how anisotropy and its properties can be harnessed as a very useful ultrasound tool from Cooper Williams, VMD, DACVSMR, Certified ISELP instructor. - Butterfly Equine Ultrasound Tips: Dynamic Functional Ultrasound Imaging
“If it moves, it can and should be evaluated in motion,” said Dr. Cooper Williams of viewing equine structures with ultrasound. - Butterfly Equine Ultrasound Tips: Non-Weightbearing or Flexed Ultrasonography
Optimize sonographic evaluation with static non-weightbearing or flexed ultrasound imaging of the horse.
Launch of iQ+ Vet Ultrasound
This fall, Butterfly launched iQ+ Vet ultrasound with hardware and software improvements that make it easier for veterinarians to take full advantage of iQ+ Vet’s diagnostic power. A 15% smaller probe face and 10% shorter probe allows easier maneuvering during a wide variety of scans. Up to 20% increase in battery life and improved continuous run time before thermal shut-off ensures that iQ+ Vet functions even longer in the clinic or in the field. There is increased maximum scanning depth of up to 30 cm.
Butterfly’s veterinary software now includes customizable worksheets, which help users capture the precise information needed for each individual patient.
Butterfly has made iQ+ Vet available in 19 new international markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
For more information visit ButterflyNetwork.com.
Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Research
In the last 90 days, one of the most-downloaded articles from the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science was “Pocket-Sized Ultrasound Versus Traditional Ultrasound Images in Equine Imaging: A Pictorial Essay.” The paper was authored by Lindsay J. Deacon, Virginia B.Reef, Laurence Leduc, and Cristobal Navas de Solis, all of the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.
Highlights From the Research:
- Pocket-sized ultrasound equipment can identify normal sonographic structures in horses.
- Sonographic abnormalities in horses can be identified with pocket-sized ultrasound equipment.
- Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) deserves attention in equine practice.
- POCUS has great potential in the education of veterinary students.
Abstract:
“This pictorial essay aims to display the image quality of pocket-sized ultrasound devices and hospital-based equipment to provide clinicians visual information about the potential uses of point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) in equine practice. Twenty-two paired images were obtained using traditional ultrasound equipment and pocket-sized ultrasound devices from patients evaluated at veterinary teaching hospitals. Images of many common ultrasound windows and miscellaneous sonographic abnormalities were obtained using pocket-sized ultrasound equipment.”
Conclusions:
“We conclude that pocket-sized ultrasound equipment can be used to obtain images of structures from common windows and common sonographic abnormalities in equine practice. This technology could become useful in many clinical scenarios and has the potential of being transformative in settings like rural practice, stall-side evaluation, and teaching of veterinary students. The diagnostic accuracy of POCUS and its impact on emergency and critical care medicine as well as on veterinary medical education deserves further attention. ”
Ethical Statement: Butterfly provided iQ Vet equipment on loan free of charge.
Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge Butterfly for allowing them to use their iQ Vet.
UC Davis Research Using iQ Vet
Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (eNAD/EDM) is an inherited neurodegenerative disease characterized by the development of ataxia within the first year of life.* Researchers at the University of California, Davis who are studying eNAD/EDM used ultrasound-guided needle CSF samples for a biomarker test.
“Ultrasound needle guidance is vital,” said UC Davis researcher Lisa Edwards, DVM, DACVIM-LAIM, an Emergency and Critical Care Fellow. “I wouldn’t recommend trying that at all without watching what you’re doing the whole time. The Butterfly iQ Vet is a really portable tool to take around, especially in the research setting where we’re going around to various spots. It has really good image quality, especially in the cervical spine area.”
Researchers at UC Davis collaborated with veterinarians and researchers at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital and the New Bolton Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
For more information check out this article: Portable Ultrasound Assists Researchers in Identifying Biomarker for Equine Neurological Disease.
Butterfly Network Releases iQ+ Vet Ultrasound
The second-generation device brings sharper imaging, a new procedural guidance tool, and hardware improvements that make the solution more powerful, versatile, and easy-to-use. To see the Butterfly iQ+ Vet Ultrasound press release, click here.
Procedural Guidance
The innovative Needle Viz™ tool is now available to veterinarians within five clinical presets (Bladder, MSK, MSK Equine, Small Organ, and Vascular). The ability to visualize needles in-plane will help veterinarians perform more confident fine needle aspirates, and quickly place lines and injections with greater certainty in emergency care situations.
TeleGuidance
Butterfly TeleGuidance™ is the world’s first integrated ultrasound telemedicine platform that enables a trained practitioner to connect with a novice or a peer at the bedside. Collaboration has never been more seamless, whether you’re down the hall or across the world.
The trained practitioner can control gain, depth, preset, mode and can capture images and videos.
In-App Video Calling: A live video call in the iQ app enables you to talk a colleague through their scan and advise them directly from your computer.
Guidance with Augmented Reality: Intuitive visual guidance overlays the bedside operator’s camera feed.
- *Butterfly TeleGuidance™ Beta currently does not support measurements, M-mode, TGC and cine buffer
- Note: TeleGuidance involves streaming a video feed while imaging, which can be demanding for device hardware. As a result, TeleGuidance is only currently supported on more recent Apple devices. Please see the list of compatible devices here.
- Compatible device list: https://support.butterflynetwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043778031
About Butterfly
Founded by Dr. Jonathan Rothberg in 2011, Butterfly Network is the creator of the world’s most advanced handheld, single-probe, whole-body veterinary ultrasound system, Butterfly iQ+ Vet. Butterfly’s mission is to enable universal access to superior medical imaging, and part of that mission is to enable the scanning of every animal at each veterinary visit. Through its proprietary Ultrasound-on-ChipTM technology, Butterfly is paving the way for streamlined veterinary care and improved outcomes. The Butterfly iQ+ Vet can be purchased online by veterinary practitioners in approved countries at the store or by contacting sales at vetsupport@butterflynetwork.com.
All comparative claims are made relative to first-generation iQ Vet product.
For more information visit ButterflyNetwork.com.
