May/June 2026 Issue

Lending a Hand
By Rebecca Montz, EdD, MBA, CNMT, PET, RT(N)(CT), NMTCB RS
Radiology Today
Vol. 27 No. 3 P. 10

Handheld ultrasound expands care from bedside to borderless.

Handheld ultrasound has evolved from a niche tool into a core component of modern point of care imaging, reshaping bedside assessment, emergency and outpatient care, and diagnostic access in settings with limited infrastructure. This shift reflects not a single innovation, but the convergence of technology, clinical insight, and a sustained focus on accessibility.

Alongside these companies, physicians, educators, and global health advocates are using handheld ultrasound not as a replacement for comprehensive imaging systems but as an extension of clinical judgment. Together, they demonstrate that its true impact lies not in smaller devices but in broader access, faster insight, and the ability to deliver high-quality imaging where care begins.

Redefining Everyday Imaging
For Clarius Mobile Health, handheld ultrasound is fundamentally about immediacy. Its wireless scanners connect directly to iOS and Android devices, delivering image quality traditionally associated with cart-based systems in a far smaller and more flexible form. With over seven million scans performed worldwide and clinical availability in more than 70 countries, Clarius Mobile Health has helped move ultrasound from a scheduled diagnostic step to an integral part of the patient encounter that is used at the moment clinical questions arise.

That shift is reflected in a notable 2025 milestone: Clarius Mobile Health achieving profitability in fiscal year 2025 and exiting with 20% growth, signaling that handheld ultrasound has reached not only clinical relevance but commercial sustainability. In announcing the results, CEO Laurent Pelissier emphasized that pairing portable hardware with regulatory-cleared, real-time AI was central to this progress, underscoring the company’s view that responsible scale depends on both innovation and trust.

For Sarah Leverett, vice president of marketing at Clarius Mobile Health, the transformation is as much about clinical mindset as it is about technology. She often describes handheld ultrasound as “the visual stethoscope of modern medicine,” a tool that allows clinicians to move from suspicion to confirmation within a single visit. Where providers once relied solely on physical examination or waited hours, or days, for imaging results, they can now visualize anatomy and pathology in real time, whether in an exam room, at the bedside, or in the field during emergency response.

This immediacy has reshaped decision-making across a wide range of specialties. In primary care, clinicians use handheld ultrasound to answer focused questions such as assessing bladder retention, identifying gallbladder pathology, or evaluating basic cardiac function without referring patients elsewhere. In musculoskeletal and sports medicine, handheld imaging supports the assessment of tendon and ligament injuries, joint effusions, and muscle strains, while also enabling image-guided injections and longitudinal monitoring of healing.

In aesthetic medicine, handheld ultrasound has increasingly become a critical safety tool. Providers rely on imaging for facial vascular mapping prior to filler injections, identification of previously placed filler material, and evaluation of complications. As Leverett notes, the ability to visualize vessels and tissue planes before injecting significantly enhances safety in a field where precision is essential.

Balancing Power and Portability
Delivering clinically meaningful imaging in a handheld form requires careful engineering trade-offs, which is an area GE HealthCare has addressed with its Vscan Air platform. Designed for speed and versatility, Vscan Air brings real-time diagnostic insight directly to the point of care, spanning hospital wards, outpatient clinics, alternate care sites, and rural or resource-limited environments.

According to Karley Yoder, CEO of comprehensive care ultrasound, advanced visualization solutions for GE HealthCare, the platform delivers actionable information across a broad range of applications. Cardiac, vascular, abdominal, obstetric, gynecologic, and musculoskeletal assessments can be performed at the bedside, supporting triage and clinical decision-making when time is critical.

Vscan Air is available in two configurations tailored to distinct clinical needs. Vscan Air SL, equipped with sector and linear transducers, is designed for focused cardiac and vascular imaging. Vscan Air CL combines curved and linear transducers to support abdominal and vascular evaluations. Both models feature a dual-headed probe design, enabling clinicians to image superficial and deep structures without switching devices.

Despite its pocket-sized design, Vscan Air is engineered to deliver robust image quality. Yoder emphasizes that while cart-based systems remain essential for comprehensive diagnostic exams, handheld ultrasound excels when mobility, speed, and access are the priority. Its durability and wireless design allow imaging to reach patients in settings where traditional systems are impractical, extending diagnostic capability to the moments and locations where care is most urgently needed.

Lowering Barriers
Across today’s major handheld ultrasound platforms, AI has emerged as a key driver of adoption. Rather than replacing clinical judgment, AI is helping clinicians acquire higher-quality images, interpret findings more consistently, and practice with greater confidence, particularly among users with limited prior ultrasound experience.

At Clarius Mobile Health, AI is embedded throughout the platform. In 2025, the company received FDA clearance for two additional AI models, expanding its portfolio to six FDA-cleared applications and 16 AI technologies spanning diagnostics, education, and workflow. Capabilities such as Clarius Intelligence automate image optimization and measurements, while integrated workflow tools streamline documentation and image review. One of the platform’s most distinctive innovations, Clarius T Mode, overlays color-coded anatomic guidance directly onto ultrasound images, providing real-time visual context designed to reduce the steep learning curve traditionally associated with grayscale interpretation. Leverett notes that image interpretation has long been one of the greatest barriers to ultrasound adoption. By immediately contextualizing anatomy, AI-driven visual guidance helps clinicians recognize structures faster and build confidence earlier in their ultrasound training.

GE HealthCare has taken a similar approach with Vscan Air SL with Caption AI, which offers step-by-step guidance to help users acquire diagnostic-quality cardiac views. Real-time probe guidance, image quality feedback, and automated measurements, such as AutoEF, reduce reliance on manual calculations and help standardize exams. Workflow tools like AutoCapture and Save Best Clip further minimize cognitive load, allowing clinicians to stay focused on patient care rather than system operation.

At Philips, AI is seen not simply as an added capability, but as a foundational driver of the next phase of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). Bita Alu, vice president for general imaging, point of care, and women’s health at Philips Ultrasound, describes POCUS as one of the fastest-growing segments in medical imaging, with handheld ultrasound playing a pivotal role in that growth. “It makes ultrasound accessible to a broader range of clinicians,” she says, “while serving as a highly effective complement to advanced cart-based systems.”

Central to this momentum is the rapid advancement of AI and workflow innovation, which is reshaping how ultrasound is learned, performed, and interpreted. AI-guided image acquisition, automated measurements, and real-time decision support are lowering the technical threshold required to obtain clinically meaningful images. These tools enable users, whether novices or clinicians working in high-throughput environments, to visualize anatomy more clearly, measure more accurately, and diagnose with greater confidence.

By reducing operator variability, AI and automation are making ultrasound not only easier to use but also more reliable and consistent. That consistency, Alu emphasizes, is essential to safely scaling POCUS across care settings, specialties, and experience levels while not compromising clinical quality.

Practical Impact in Tight Spaces
The real-world value of handheld ultrasound is especially evident in emergency medicine, where limitations on space, time, and staffing are constant. Rachel Liu, MD, a professor of emergency medicine and director of POCUS education at Yale School of Medicine, views handheld ultrasound not as a replacement for traditional systems but as a complementary tool that expands access to imaging where it was previously impractical.

In Yale’s emergency department, handheld ultrasound is frequently used for procedural guidance, particularly peripheral IV placement by nursing staff and bladder volume assessments. Its portability proved essential as care expanded beyond traditional treatment rooms into waiting and triage areas. During these periods, clinicians used handheld devices to evaluate musculoskeletal injuries and assist with abscess drainage directly in triage, allowing patients to receive care without needing a dedicated room.

Handheld ultrasound also plays a key role in hallways and other constrained spaces where cart-based systems are difficult to maneuver. Liu emphasizes that utility is driven by situational need rather than patient type. In high-traffic environments, handheld imaging supports faster throughput by eliminating delays associated with transporting and positioning larger equipment.

Simplicity is central to these use cases. Liu notes that B-mode imaging remains the most reliable and commonly used modality on handheld devices, particularly for focused procedural tasks where speed and clarity are paramount. Training requirements are often minimal, sometimes as little as 30 minutes for targeted applications like IV placement, supported by intuitive interfaces and task-specific functionality.

While Liu acknowledges practical challenges such as device charging, security, and workflow integration, she highlights the technology’s positive impact on patient engagement. At times, she invites patients to hold the tablet and watch the scan in real time, transforming imaging into a shared visual experience that fosters understanding, reassurance, and trust.

Global Reach
Across diverse care settings, from remote clinics to humanitarian emergencies, handheld ultrasound is increasingly defined by its ability to expand access without compromising clinical standards. At Philips, AI is viewed as a critical lever in that effort, particularly in underserved and resource-limited environments. Alu emphasizes that AI-enabled handheld systems can guide image acquisition, perform automated measurements, and evaluate key clinical parameters in real time. These capabilities help clinicians determine whether findings are normal or require escalation to higher levels of care. “This enables more confident decision-making,” Alu explains, “even in settings without specialized ultrasound expertise.”

Connectivity further amplifies that impact. Embedded telehealth capabilities allow frontline clinicians to connect with remote specialists for real-time guidance and interpretation, particularly in complex or ambiguous cases. In rural and underserved regions, pairing bedside imaging with tele-expertise can accelerate diagnoses and, in some circumstances, support lifesaving interventions. The result is an ecosystem in which ultrasound travels with the patient while clinical expertise travels digitally, breaking down long-standing geographic and infrastructure barriers.

Nowhere is this model more urgent than in global health. In regions where traditional radiology infrastructure is limited or nonexistent, handheld ultrasound has shifted from convenience to necessity. As Sachita Shah, MD, emergency physician and vice president of global health at Butterfly Network, explains, handheld ultrasound was born out of the need for rapid, bedside answers in precisely these environments. Yet nearly two-thirds of the world’s population still lacks access to diagnostic imaging, despite global recommendations for ultrasound use in pregnancy, trauma, and cardiac care.

Handheld ultrasound helps bridge this gap not by replacing radiology services but by enabling frontline clinicians to triage patients effectively. It allows providers to determine who needs advanced imaging and when. Butterfly Network’s approach combines technical innovation with global scale. Its Ultrasound-on-Chip technology enables a single probe to image the entire body using software presets rather than multiple transducers. Flexible connectivity allows the devices to function online, offline, or through the cloud, an essential capability in regions with unstable internet access. To date, Butterfly Network has deployed more than 165,000 devices worldwide, with programs spanning over 115 countries and territories. Thousands of these probes are dedicated to reduced-cost deployment in limited-resource settings.

Bridging Gaps
These devices are used by midwives in rural Africa, humanitarian teams responding to disasters such as the Maui wildfires, and clinicians working in conflict zones, including more than 1,200 handheld ultrasound units currently in use in Ukraine. In many of these settings, handheld ultrasound serves as the first and often only imaging modality. It supports applications ranging from trauma assessment and vascular access to heart failure management and routine antenatal care.

AI plays a central role in scaling this impact responsibly. Butterfly Network recently received FDA clearance for an automated gestational age tool trained on more than 20 million images from diverse populations, built with academic partners from University of North Carolina. Using a guided “blind sweep” of the abdomen, the tool delivers accurate gestational age estimates without manual measurements. This first-of-its-kind innovation addresses one of the most difficult and error-prone skills to teach in obstetric ultrasound.

A complementary model of global impact can be seen in the work of Craig Sable, MD, pediatric cardiologist at Ochsner Children’s Hospital. His long-standing collaboration with Philips and the Philips Foundation has transformed cardiac screening for rheumatic heart disease. Affecting more than 50 million people worldwide and responsible for nearly 400,000 deaths annually, rheumatic heart disease is entirely preventable when detected early. Screening, however, has historically been centralized in urban tertiary hospitals far from where most patients live.

Sable’s work focuses on moving cardiac screening out of hospitals and into communities. Using handheld ultrasound, nurses and frontline health care workers in Uganda are trained to perform simplified echocardiograms as part of the public health system. This approach dramatically increases the number of children screened before irreversible damage occurs. AI-assisted tools help standardize image acquisition and flag abnormal findings, enabling confident referrals even in the absence of on-site specialists. This community-based model has since expanded to countries including the Philippines and Indonesia, demonstrating how portable imaging, education, and long-term partnerships can create sustainable systems of care.

Together, these efforts highlight the promise of handheld ultrasound as a global health equalizer. Paired with intelligent software, tele-expertise, and locally grounded training, it delivers early detection, informed decisions, and lifesaving care to populations beyond the reach of traditional imaging.

A Unified Future
Across companies, specialties, and care settings, a shared vision for handheld ultrasound has emerged. It is not a replacement for comprehensive imaging systems, but an extension of them, expanding access to more patients, environments, and moments of clinical decision-making. AI is not replacing clinical expertise, it is amplifying it, and portability now represents equity by bringing high-quality imaging to the point where care begins.

Industry leaders consistently echo this perspective. At Clarius Mobile Health, Leverett emphasizes real-time visualization, highlighting how immediacy transforms clinical encounters and engages patients in the diagnostic process. At GE HealthCare, Yoder focuses on readiness, noting that on-demand imaging enables faster, more confident decisions in triage, bedside, and remote care. From emergency medicine, Liu describes handheld ultrasound as extending access without altering diagnostic philosophy, allowing imaging in constrained spaces while strengthening patient understanding and trust.

At Philips, Alu frames handheld ultrasound as central to the evolution of POCUS, lowering barriers through AI-supported acquisition, interpretation, and connectivity while preserving clinical rigor. This expanded reach is evident globally, where Sable’s work with Philips and the Philips Foundation demonstrates how handheld imaging paired with training and intelligent software can move lifesaving screening into schools and rural clinics. Shah reinforces that access is the defining measure of success, noting how handheld ultrasound equips frontline providers, from midwives to disaster-response clinicians, when no other imaging is available.

Together, these perspectives point to a unified future for handheld ultrasound as an intelligent, connected extension of clinical judgment, bringing high-quality imaging closer to patients, providers, and communities across settings and borders.

— Rebecca Montz, EdD, MBA, CNMT, PET, RT(N)(CT), NMTCB RS, has worked at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston as a nuclear medicine and PET technologist.