Oslo-based med-tech company Observe Medical ASA has acquired ultrasound technology firm Biim Ultrasound AS for €18.5 million (US$20.9 million). The company’s combined portfolio includes Observe’s automated, digital urine meter, Sippi, and Biim’s wireless ultrasound probe, Biim, which received 510(k) clearance in 2018. The ultrasound technology is specifically used to guide needle and catheter insertions for dialysis and vascular access procedures and is currently in use at Fresenius Kidney Care’s U.S. dialysis centers.

Ultrasound companies, Caption Health Inc. and Ultromics Ltd. are linking up to jointly offer Caption’s AI software platform with Ultromics’ Echogo deep ultrasound analytics for cardiovascular disease detection.

A less controversial option than aducanumab may be available soon to help individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia. Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Toronto have developed a technique using ultrasound that reverses cognitive decline and they say it could be available for clinical use shortly.

Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co. Ltd. plans to release a couple of new imaging solutions this month as part of continued and rapid growth in its home market and globally. The first to be unveiled by the Shenzhen, China-based company is the Resona I9, its latest general imaging diagnostic ultrasound system.

HONG KONG – Dia Imaging Analysis Ltd. has teamed up with Sonoscape Medical Corp. to deliver cardiac ultrasound artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. The partnership aims to reduce the variability associated with manual or visual analysis, and increase efficiency and accuracy throughout the analysis process. As a result, China-based Sonoscape's ultrasound devices will be offering a layer of automated AI-based analysis to support the clinician’s decision-making process, courtesy of Dia's AI-based cardiac solutions.

Medi-Scan Inc. has emerged from stealth mode with cloud-based software that converts the data on ultrasound analog 2D grayscale images into a digital 3D high-definition (HD) format in less than two minutes. The company is currently focusing its efforts on the heart and lungs, with the aim of providing quick, point-of-service evaluation and triaging of patients with heart disease and other conditions, including COVID-19.

Last year, artificial intelligence (AI)-focused Caption Health Inc. won the U.S. FDA’s nod for software that guides untrained clinicians step-by-step in providing a cardiac ultrasound exam, a process normally performed by a highly skilled specialist. Now, the Brisbane, Calif.-based company has published data showing nurses without prior ultrasound experience who used Caption Guidance software captured ultrasound images of diagnostic quality to assess known cardiac conditions.

Longeviti Neuro Solutions LLC has received the U.S. FDA’s nod for use of its Clearfit cranial implant with postoperative ultrasound imaging. The expanded 510(k) clearance could help in reducing radiation exposure linked to other post-neurosurgical imaging modalities. Research has shown that current methods of post-neurosurgical imaging put patients at risk of radiation exposure, and that an estimated 29,000 future cancers could be linked to CT scan used in the U.S. each year. Comprised of polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA), Clearfit is a neuro-reconstructive implant that surgeons use to reconstruct a patient’s cranium following brain surgery.

Exo Imaging Inc. closed a $40 million series B+ funding round that is earmarked to help with the development of a hand-held ultrasound device and cloud-based workflow software platform. The funding follows a series B round in August 2019 that reeled in $35 million and brings the company’s total raise to nearly $100 million.

TORONTO – Vancouver, B.C.-based Sonic Incytes Medical Corp. is giving MRI a run for its money assessing chronic liver disease following a successful, CA$3.5 (US$2.6 million) seed round. That brings total funding to CA$8 million (US$5.92 million) for a hand-held ultrasound device that quantifies liver disease using 3D tissue sampling and analysis in approximately five minutes in a doctor’s office.