Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) accounts for 45% of mortality in the EU, a number which will increase as more and more people reach old age. This has caused an enormous pressure on cardiac health care professionals, whose working conditions have been suffering as a result. In sonography, which is crucial in diagnosing and monitoring CVD, up to 90% of professionals are experiencing work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD, also called RSI), resulting from the strain put on the body by handling the ultrasound probe during examinations. There is evidence that 20% of sonographers suffering from WRMSD eventually suffer a career ending injury.
In 2016, new industry standards for the prevention of WRMSD in sonographers have been introduced, but these have not eradicated the problem. USONO has developed the ProbeFix, a fixation device for ultrasound probes, which removes the need to manually keep the ultrasound probe in place. This solution greatly improves sonographer’s working conditions, with the added benefits of increasing reproducibility of scanned images across different operators and patients, and significantly reducing the time an echo scan takes. These are two other problems cardiology departments have been struggling with for decades.
USONO is looking to take the ProbeFix to market in all of Europe in the near future, quickly realizing an impact on cardiac health care and sonographer’s working conditions. Before this project, USONO had already made a start selling the ProbeFix in Europe, focusing mainly on the Dutch, Spanish, German and Belgian markets. The main objective of this SME Phase 1 project was to explore and assess the possibilities of scaling-up the ProbeFix in the EU, and eventually the rest of the world, and bring it ultimately to TRL 9. Furthermore, the business case and plan needed to be updated, elaborated and further improved, in order to effectively and efficiently introduce the ProbeFix in hospitals and cardiac centers the EU and, later on, in the world market. Also an objective was to assess the commercial potential and to develop a technical development agenda for the ProbeFix Dynamic in the SME Instrument Phase 2.
In order to achieve these objectives, a technical and commercial feasibility study were executed. We will discuss the details of these studies below. The conclusion of these studies is that scaling-up the ProbeFix in the EU is both technically and financially feasible for USONO.
