The Future of Ultrasound: A Conversation With a Radiologist

How AI-powered ultrasound is changing medical imaging, expanding healthcare beyond hospitals and opening new possibilities for patient monitoring.

( Dr. Sanjiv Bhalla, Medical Director of Kinetix Medicine, discusses how advances in ultrasound technology could transform patient care. )

Ultrasound is an essential tool in modern medicine, but accessing it isn't always straightforward. Patients face long wait times, shortages of trained professionals and the need to travel to specialized imaging facilities.

That's beginning to change.

Advances in artificial intelligence and ultrasound sensor technology are driving a new generation of medical imaging devices designed to make ultrasound easier to acquire. Sonus Microsystems is preparing to enter clinical trials with technology designed to automate ultrasound image acquisition through its Sonus Patch™—an important step in developing new ways to perform ultrasound examinations.

For our Future of Ultrasound interview series, we spoke with Dr. Sanjiv Bhalla, Medical Director of Kinetix Medicine, a multidisciplinary medical clinic in Vancouver, about how these advances could change the way ultrasound examinations are performed, improve access to medical imaging and open new possibilities for patient monitoring.

Editor's note: The following Q&A is based on our conversation with Dr. Bhalla. His responses have been summarized and edited for clarity while preserving the substance of his perspectives.

How is AI changing the way ultrasound examinations are performed?

Dr. Bhalla: The ideal ultrasound device would be inexpensive, easy for someone to apply on their own and able to obtain ultrasound data without an operator. That's one of the biggest limitations of ultrasound right now—the need for a trained technologist.

A patient could place a small device on their body, and it would retrieve ultrasound information and send it to a processing centre, whether that's a phone or a data centre.

AI could then provide information or help make a diagnosis. Importantly, that information would be sent back to the patient's phone so they could get immediate feedback about what's happening. 

The information would also be shared with the physician overseeing their care or integrated into their electronic medical record.

For me, those are the key characteristics: affordable, easy to apply, no need for a dedicated ultrasound technologist, and useful information delivered to both the patient and their healthcare provider.

What are the biggest barriers to accessing ultrasound today?

Dr. Bhalla: Ultrasound is limited by the fact that patients typically need to come to a radiology department. There's only so much space in those departments, and there are limitations in the number of ultrasound technologists available.

It's a practical challenge. Ultrasound examinations happen every day, of course, but the process would be much simpler if we weren't always tied to a physical hospital department.

In urban centres, hospitals are large and well established, but they're often overwhelmed. Patients can face long waits for everything from emergency care to surgery and diagnostic imaging.

In rural communities, there are fewer hospitals, imaging departments and healthcare resources. The ability to obtain ultrasound information without requiring patients to travel could make an even greater difference.

What if wearable ultrasound technology can help detect medical problems before symptoms appear?

Dr. Bhalla: I think that would be transformative.

Medical problems don't typically happen in an instant. They develop over time, and there's often a presymptomatic phase when anatomical changes are taking place but the patient doesn't yet feel the effects.

It would be amazing to have a device that could identify pathology during that early phase, allowing assessment or treatment before more serious outcomes occur.

How could continuous ultrasound monitoring improve cardiac care in intensive care units?

Dr. Bhalla: Think about patients in an ICU or emergency care setting. They may have major medical problems and remain in a hospital bed for days, weeks or even months.

If we had a device that could continuously assess cardiac function or cardiac output, that would be extremely valuable.

A patient's heart function can deteriorate. If a device could alert healthcare providers to those changes before the patient develops symptoms such as shortness of breath or chest pain, clinicians could potentially assess and treat the problem earlier.

I think cardiac output is a major opportunity for continuous ultrasound monitoring.

Could wearable ultrasound help detect deep vein thrombosis (DVT) earlier?

Dr. Bhalla: These patients are at increased risk of developing blood clots in their legs because they're immobile and often have a significant underlying medical condition.

In hospitals, patients frequently need to go to radiology to have their legs scanned for deep vein thrombosis, or an ultrasound technologist has to bring portable equipment to the bedside.

Imagine having a device placed at a few strategic locations on the patient's legs that could detect a thrombus or changes in blood flow before the patient develops symptoms such as swelling or redness in the calf.

Identifying those changes earlier could allow clinicians to assess the patient and determine whether treatment, including anticoagulation, is needed.

How could portable ultrasound improve healthcare in rural and remote locations?

Dr. Bhalla: Any time you can make technology available to a broader population, particularly if it's inexpensive, you have an opportunity to improve healthcare.

Think about rural communities, military zones or hard-to-reach places like cruise ships and airplanes. If an ultrasound device could be used in these settings without requiring a conventional hospital imaging department, it could help a tremendous number of people.

Patients wouldn't necessarily have to travel to a hospital to have the examination performed.

I think the opportunity is enormous, particularly in rural areas where there are fewer hospitals and fewer healthcare resources. Being able to provide that information in real time, wherever the patient happens to be, could make a significant difference.

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The Future of Ultrasound is a Sonus Microsystems interview series exploring how advances in artificial intelligence, autonomous imaging and sensor technology are changing medical imaging and creating new possibilities for patient care through conversations with clinicians, researchers and industry experts.