Ultrasounder SonoSite acquires LumenVu for catheter placement
Bothell, Wash.-based ultrasound developer SonoSite acquired LumenVu, a Philadelphia medical-device startup specializing in catheter placement. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
SonoSite, which specializes in handheld ultrasound devices, plans to marry its technology with LumenVu’s guidance system, which uses near-infrared light and a special camera to help physicians properly place catheters known as “central lines” or PICC lines (the acronym stands for peripherally inserted central catheter). The company estimates that up to 27 percent of all such catheters are inserted incorrectly, which can delay treatment, discomfit patients and lead to extra expense.
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About the Author, David P. Hamilton
David Hamilton has been writing for VentureBeat LifeScience since April 2007. He formerly spent 14 years as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in its San Francisco and Tokyo bureaus. Prior to that, he spent several years as a reporter at Science Magazine and as a reporter/researcher for the New Republic, both in Washington.