CHICAGO and TEL AVIV, ISRAEL, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UltraSight, a digital health pioneer transforming cardiac imaging through the power of AI, announced a new collaboration with GE Healthcare to conduct a cardiac study aboard the Axiom 'Rakia' space mission, and the successful completion of Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for Cardiac Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS). During the study, UltraSight's real-time AI guidance software and GE Healthcare's handheld GE Vscan Air™, the high performance, wireless pocket-sized color ultrasound, will record images of an astronaut's heart in microgravity.

The goal of this study is to demonstrate how, using the right technology, accurate, cardiac ultrasound images can be acquired anywhere – even in space – and how AI guidance has the potential to enable successful scanning with limited training. During the mission, Lt. Col. Eytan Stibbe, the first Israeli flying to the International space station, will use the Vscan Air™ ultrasound device with UltraSight AI guidance and take his own cardiac images, independent of trained medical professionals or ground mission control. The outcomes of this study could potentially benefit millions of cardiology patients worldwide, particularly in underserved communities where access to echocardiography labs and large medical systems is limited.

"Easy access to cardiac diagnostic imaging and a small and durable, wireless ultrasound device that can perform under arduous space conditions would be hugely important – it could allow the monitoring of space crews' health and provide critical information on whether immediate intervention is necessary," said Davidi Vortman, CEO of UltraSight. "Vscan Air™ fits the bill. We are excited to collaborate with GE Healthcare and lead a new wave of medical innovation in space."

"Space agencies are looking for an ultrasound solution with the features provided by GE Healthcare and UltraSight not only for the international space station, but to also assist with upcoming missions including Artemis to the moon, and soon after to Mars," said Eran Schenker, MD, Chief Innovation Medical Officer, Israeli Aerospace Medicine Institute (IAMI). "In fact, the mission to Mars, which will have significant communication challenges and delays, will require the rethinking of telemedicine. Real-time AI guidance will be critical in enabling the crew to obtain cardiac images without relying on mission control on Earth," he concluded.

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