ECHO 2013 / Echocardiography in 2013 and Beyond Where We Are and Where We Are Going
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Echocardiography in 2013 and Beyond:
Where We Are And Where We Are Going?
James D. Thomas, M.D., F.A.C.C.
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine
Heart and Vascular Institute
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Disclosures: None
MR2010:1
What To Say?
An E-Mail Exchange with Becky
•Me: “As for the first lecture, do you want technology evolution or health care policy?”
•Becky (a la Winnie the Pooh): “Both, please.”
So here we go, a bit of the good, the bad, and the ugly
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What Will Drive Innovation?
•We can‟t change the laws of physics
–Speed of sound ~1540 m/sec
–Maximum useful frequency in adults ~3 MHz
–Pulsed and color Doppler still alias
•We can improve data extraction
–Better transducers (less noise, ringing, etc)
–Quieter amplifiers (key to harmonic imaging)
–Ride the never-ending wave that is Moore’s
Law
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Gordon Moore, Co-founder of Intel
“Computer power will double every 12-24 months”
RAND Corporation’s Vision of the
Home Computer, ca. 2004
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Thomas’ corollary to Moore’s law:
“Gordon Moore was a pessimist”
Log2 transducers/chip |
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35 |
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30 |
1999-2005: T½=10 months |
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25 |
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20 |
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15 |
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10 |
1971-99: T½=26 months |
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5 |
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0 |
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1970 |
1980 |
1990 |
2000 |
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Year |
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Moore’s Law in Perspective
In 1965, it took ~$900 and 7 hours to fly from New York to Paris.
The same in 2013.
If Moore‟s law had applied, however, today it would cost less than ½¢ and take less than ½ second (1B-fold improvement in efficiency!).
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What Can We Do with this Magically Increasing Processing Power??
•Keep features the same and make the package smaller
•Keep the package the same size and make the features more powerful
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New Echo Technology
A Roadmap for the Future
•Faster signal processing
•More sensitive sensor technology
•Progressive minaturization
Major advances in 4D imaging, parametric
imaging, visualization, and guidance
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