Systematic Review of Commercially Available Clinical CMUT-Based Systems for Use in Medical Ultrasound Imaging: Products, Applications, and Performance.

Ahmed Sewify, Maria Antico, Laith Alzubaidi, Haider A Alwzwazy, Jacqueline Roots, Peter Pivonka, Davide Fontanarosa

Abstract readSystematic Review

In one paragraph

Synthesis in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

3citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

Advances and Challenges of Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers in Medical Imaging.Micromachines · 2026
Review
Broadband Impedance Matching for Immersed CMUTs: An End-to-End Design-to-Measurement Validation Framework.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
Article
Comprehensive reconstruction of the musculoskeletal anatomy in the shoulder using a hybrid 3D ultrasound mosaicking workflow: A pilot study.PloS one · 2026
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Ahmed SewifySchool of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George St., Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.ORCID 0009-0007-6464-1762

Maria AnticoCentre for Biomedical Technologies (CBT), Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.

Laith AlzubaidiSchool of Mechanical Medical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George St., Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-7296-5413

Haider A AlwzwazySchool of Mechanical Medical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George St., Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-2527-0643

Jacqueline RootsSchool of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George St., Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.

Peter PivonkaCentre for Biomedical Technologies (CBT), Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.

Davide FontanarosaSchool of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George St., Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-6986-3718

Funding

Australian Research Council IC190100020

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

An emerging alternative to conventional piezoelectric technologies, which continue to dominate the ultrasound medical imaging (US) market, is Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs). Ultrasound transducers based on this technology offer a wider frequency bandwidth, improved cost-effectiveness, miniaturized size and effective integration with electronics. These features have led to an increase in the commercialization of CMUTs in the last 10 years. We conducted a review to answer three main research questions: (1) What are the commercially available CMUT-based clinical sonographic devices in the medical imaging space? (2) What are the medical imaging applications of these devices? (3) What is the performance of the devices in these applications? We additionally reported on all the future work expressed by modern studies released in the past 2 years to predict the trend of development in future CMUT device developments and express gaps in current research. The search retrieved 19 commercially available sonographic CMUT products belonging to seven companies. Four of the products were clinically approved. Sonographic CMUT devices have established their niche in the medical US imaging market mainly through the Butterfly iQ and iQ+ for quick preliminary screening, emergency care in resource-limited settings, clinical training, teleguidance, and paramedical applications. There were no commercialized 3D CMUT probes.

Indexed as

MicrotechnologyTransducersEquipment DesignHumansUltrasonography4G CMUTButterfly IQcapacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducersCMUT cathetersCMUT performancecommercial CMUT probescommercial ultrasoundhandheld ultrasoundhigh-end CMUT probesPZT probes

Identifiers

PMID40218757

DOI10.3390/s25072245

PMCPMC11991037

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.