Review of the Siemens Acuson P500 for veterinary echocardiography

This week, I performed a side-by-side comparison of the Siui Apoge 2300 and the Siemens Acuson P500. Two months ago, I tested and reviewed the Siemens Acuson Juniper ultrasound machine for echocardiography. As amazing as it is, most of our clients require portable ultrasound systems, and cart-based machines are simply not practical for them.

The P500 is highly portable, but I wanted to see how close its performance was to the Juniper for cardiac imaging, as well as how it compared to the Apogee 2300.

My patient was a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel – a fairly typical referral to an echo clinic! – and she of course obliged, with myxomatous mitral valve disease and even some mild aortic regurgitation. Below are a series of images for comparison, with the Siemens clips shown first, and Siui immediately beneath.

Right parasternal long axis / four chamber view, with and without colour Doppler

The frame rate on the Siemens machine is slightly higher, at 29fps vs 21fps (shown as Hz) on the Siui machine. I feel as though this comes across when the clips are played, with the colour flow on the P500 appearing more responsive. However, the ultimate information gained on this particular patient is the same. The posteriorly directed jet can be spotted equally with both machines, and on both systems you would have the impression of significant mitral regurgitation.

Left apical 5 chamber view

Again, the Siemens system delivers higher frame rates, but the user’s ability to spot the small jet of aortic regurgitation from this view remains the same.

The default imaging area is larger on the P500, making you feel closer to the action, but it is worth remembering that the Apogee 2300 has a ‘full screen’ mode, which is not shown here.

Mitral inflow

I felt the Doppler traces on the Siemens machine were marginally cleaner (excuse the lack of wall filter adjustment in the P500 image – lack of familiarity with controls!).