Noblus Overview

Hitachi Healthcare pioneered ultrasound for use by cardiologists and we continue to lead the way with major innovations. Recognized for our outstanding image quality & Doppler performance, outstanding system reliability and advanced transducer technology, Hitachi Healthcare remains the standard in the field of ultrasound.

Hitachi Healthcare’s commitment and dedication to cardiology and vascular ultrasound allows us to offer a wide range of consoles and specifically designed transducers to meet the needs of every user.

Our advanced technologies provide a unique and comprehensive evaluation for your patient’s cardiovascular health:
● LV eFLOW is a non-invasive imaging feature that lets you see the endocardial border in the left ventricle with higher sensitivity and resolution than ever before.
● 2DTT Provides precise quantification of strain and strain rate to visualize, quantify and analyze regional and global myocardial mechanics using 2D speckle tracking.
● Auto IMT Measurement is an easy and simple noninvasive tool to quickly assess the evaluation of the cardiovascular risk, at an early stage.
● FAM (Free Angular M-Mode) compares wall motion at multiple locations simultaneously.
● Extraordinary high-resolution digital imaging with single crystal transducers
● Speckle reduction and edge enhancement technologies providing clearly defined images
● Broadband harmonics offering significantly enhanced sensitivity and axial resolution
● Natural Ergonomics design for reduction of muscle loading while scanning

Strengths. The Hitachi-Aloka Noblus is true to Aloka form and has an incredible image, particularly for a portable unit. I thought our other portable imaging units were good but there is no comparison when put up against the H-A Noblus. The image is crisp and well balanced for the abdomen. (Fig. 1) The cardiac image and color Doppler are equally as impressive for small critters and large dogs. The machine has been extremely reliable without any software glitches over the past few months.

Weaknesses: The machine has only one slot making probe switching more time consuming. *** Thankfully the microconvex probe image is excellent so much of the work can be done with that probe. The microconvex (4-10 mHz) probe is also true to Aloka form and has little to grip when your hand is covered in gel. Hitachi does have the C42 microconvex probe that we haven’t tried. (Fig. 2) The user interface takes a bit of getting used to and could use a little efficiency work especially when it comes to image labeling.

Overall: This is a solid, excellent imaging machine that seems to be a daily workhorse. Switching probes because of a single probe port does slow us down but nothing that has stopped the radiologists from playing ROCK, PAPER, SCISSOR everyday to see who gets the Hitachi-Aloka Noblus.