The Vinno 6 portable ultrasound scanner is suitable for many ultrasound examinations including general and obstetric ultrasound as well as musculoskeletal imaging and point of care applications.
One of our clients, Spencer, was kind enough to give us a brief overview of his search journey in purchasing an MSK ultrasound scanner and the reasons he decided to purchase the Vinno 6.
Read the Spencer’s review below:
VINNO 6 TEST DRIVE
I have recently been shopping around for a high-performance portable ultrasound unit to use in my upcoming Diagnostic MSK Ultrasound service. I was originally looking for something along the lines of a GE LogiqE, but was deterred by the price tag.
Rick at JNJ Limited suggested I try the Vinno6. In his opinion, it was as good as the GE but considerably less expensive.
During my 25 years as a sonographer in the NHS and private practice, I have not heard of Vinno but decided to give it a trial.
First Impressions:
The machine is light and has a bright high-resolution 15inch screen, which can be angled to your liking.
It boots up in just under a minute and has a contemporary feel about it with green control lighting.
The controls are accessed via a combination of knobs, buttons and a 8inch touchscreen. There are plenty of variables to play with for optimising the image, including speckle reduction, line density, persistence, edge enhancement & smoothing among many others.
It also has a 120G memory and a patient database.
Trial Run:
I happened to be working in a clinic with a Canon Aplio i700, so I took the opportunity of comparing the Vinno 6 with the considerably more expensive cart-based unit.
The probe I used with the Vinno6 was the X6-16L, which has a nice smallish footprint, making it easy to access smaller joints.
I scanned shoulders, lipomata and herniae on several patients, using both pieces of kit and compared screen images side-by-side.
On image quality, I was surprised by how well the Vinno6 held up, especially considering their difference in price.
Utilising the many variables available, I was able to produce comparable images. The focus position is especially important with this machine, and the colour Doppler sensitivity was excellent.
I felt confident using the Vinno6 and could easily visualise tendon fibres, nerves and differentiate lipomata from their surroundings. Nothing was missed by this machine that was seen on the Aplio. In fact, some shoulder tendons looked better on the Vinno6.
Like all new machines, the hardest thing is getting used to where the controls are, and the image appearance.
On this piece of kit, the commonly used buttons are nicely positioned around the trackball for easy access. It did not take long to adapt my ultrasound control muscle memory. As image appearances go, there are so many variables available, you can adjust it to look as smooth or contrasty as you are used to.
The labelling function allows you to use either the trackball or touchpad to position the text using your finger, which is novel. It is easy to set up your commonly used labels and have as many as you would ever need.
Conclusion:
Admittedly, this was a subjective comparison of around a dozen MSK patients.
I have also trialled several other makes and models, but found this one provided me with a high enough image quality at an affordable price.
I have since purchased a Vinno 6 portable ultrasound scanner and certainly have had no regrets in doing so!
Spencer Laver
Director: Laver Consultancy Limited.
June 2021