Looking for a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine for Women’s Health or IVF with limited budget? Wondering what GE Voluson S6 or S8 can offer more than GE Voluson P8? Read on to see how to compare GE Voluson P8 with higher-end models
Premium GE ultrasound machines for women’s health.
GE Voluson Series are premium 4D ultrasound machines positioned for ObGyn/ Women’s health work. Although GE Voluson series ultrasound machines can be used for many common applications for abdominal, vascular, cardiac, musculoskeletal, pediatric and small parts imaging as well, they are primarily designed for use in advanced ObGyn / women’s health applications. The Voluson series of ultrasound machines features three categories with
- Voluson E series – being advanced or high-end (E denoting Expert) – Voluson E10 being the most premium ObGyn ultrasound machine from GE as on date.
- Voluson S series – being mid-high range (S denoting Signature) and
- Voluson P series – being the economy range, P denoting Performance series
A Voluson P6 or P8 is a great entry level model launched last in the series around 2012. It comes with many of the advanced technologies of the S- and E-series Voluson ultrasound machines, but excludes some of the higher-end features that are not demanded or used by budget conscious customers.
Compare GE Voluson P8 and S8 Applications
GE Voluson P8 supports extensive features for all imaging requirements in ObGyn / Women’s health and majority of the features in shared-service ultrasound for abdominal, small parts, musculo-skeletal, anesthesiology, vascular and Cardiac. The High-end GE Voluson S8 also supports additional imaging capabilities in Pediatric, Urology and Transcranial applications.
Imaging modes in Voluson series ultrasound machines
Both the Voluson P8 and S8 models support most of the basic and advanced imaging modes including 2D M-Mode, Color M-Mode, Color Doppler, Power Doppler, PW Doppler, Bi-directional power, CW Doppler, Steerable Continuous Wave Doppler, Trapezoidal Mode, Panoramic Imaging, B-Flow etc.
Being a premium women’s health focused sonography machines both also support all the advanced imaging modes and features required for high-end ObGyn work such as: Freehand 3D, Live 3D/4D OB/GYN, HD Live, Auto NT Measurement, Auto Follicle 2D Measurement, Auto Follicle 3D Measurement, Fetal Echo, SonoBiometry, SonoAVC, TUI. With GE Voluson S8 you can do a little bit more on the fetal heart assessment and other cardiac imaging with SonoVCAD Heart, STIC etc.
Infact on the cardiac imaging front, while Voluson P8 supports Anatomical M-Mode and Adult Echocardiography also, with Voluson S8 you can do much more on the Cardiac, Urology, paediatrics and transcranial imaging front with several additional imaging modes such as STIC, TVI (tissue velocity imaging), Echocardiography Pediatric, Contrast Imaging – Cardiac, Contrast Imaging – General Imaging, Elastography etc. Scan Assistant feature is also available with Voluson S8.
Premium Imaging capability & Quality
Both the models have all the advanced image quality features such as Speckle Reduction Imaging (SRI), CrossXBeam™, Tissue Harmonic Imaging. Voluson S8 also features Auto Image Optimization.
Summary Comparison of Voluson Performance & Signature series ultrasound machines
GE Voluson P6 and Voluson P8 are entry level ObGyn ultrasound machines (The only major difference between Voluson P6 and P8 being, P8 has more in-depth 3D/4D imaging options including HD Live. Both can do everything that is required in a women’s health set-up.
GE Voluson S6 & S8 are part of the mid-to-high range Women’s health focused ultrasound machines. While the hardware and general appearance of S6 and S8 is almost identical, a few differences exist in features such as elastography capabilities and probe availability of 3D micro convex, 3D Linear and a few others in Voluson S6, that make a difference in imaging for pediatrics, urology and other
general imaging areas.
While all Voluson series ultrasound machines can do an excellent job on everything required in ObGyn, the Signature series can do more in the
- Cardiac imaging – due to additional features like TVI, STIC, Pediatric echocardiography and contrast imaging
- Urology/ General imaging – due to additional capabilities on elastography and contrast imaging
- Neurology – Transcranial Doppler imaging etc.
On the image quality and hardware front Auto image optimization, slightly larger monitor size and more image handling/output/export options are helpful in the Signature series. On the other hand the P series are much lighter at 65 Kgs as compared to 90Kgs of S6 & S8.
GE Voluson Expert Series as compared to Signature Series
The high-end or Premium Expert series, especially GE Voluson E8 is highly popular since in addition to what Voluson S8 offers, it is additionally capable of doing interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, pediatric and neonatal imaging, as well as ICE (Intra-Cardiac Echocardiography) – some of the highest-end cardiac work. GE Voluson E6 is also a high-end 4D OB/GYN ultrasound machine. The E6 is a slightly scaled down version of the popular Voluson E8 that was launched a few years after. It has continued focus on women’s health and 4D but with a lesser features and lower price. Unlike Voluson E8, E6 does not support advanced cardiac imaging especially interventional cardiology, ICE etc. The E8 and E6 look identical hardware-wise although E6 may be slightly heavier. Voluson E6 is in that sense very similar to Voluson S8, but Voluson S8 does not have touchscreen facility and a few additional probes that can help with advanced pediatric imaging.
GE Voluson E8 ultrasound machine, launched in 2006, was the earliest in the Voluson series, after Voluson 730. It was the top-of-the-line premium women’s health 4D Ultrasound machine before launch of GE Voluson E10 in 2014. It is probably still the most sought after model due to its favorably perceived Price-value position. GE Voluson E10 today is the highest-end premium ultrasound machine for women’s health from GE Healthcare today.
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