Frequently asked questions

Send us your questions

• Besides ABI, is Stethoflux® Doppler of any use in daily practice?
  Of course for all patients with ulcerous skin or scab of the lower limbs. Beware not to use a compression bandaging on a venous ulcer without prior checking arterial blood flow. Otherwise for a poorly healing scab = check ABI. Finally for diabetic patients, a combined arteriopathy must be detected. Alternatively, non-audible stethoscopic low blood pressure (SBP) can always be detected thanks to Doppler with a sphygmomanometer.
  
  
• I already have a pocket Doppler. Do I need Stethoflux®?
  According to our information, physicians very often complain no to have their pocket Doppler at hand. As long as the Doppler is integrated in your stethoscope, this will never happen. Moreover, patients are very impressed by Stethoflux® (clinical device) and not by pocket Doppler seen as a technical tool. Let’s keeping mind Stethoflux® is a very high quality Doppler.
  
  
• I never used Doppler. Is Stethoflux® easy to handle?
  Yes. At first because Stethoflux® is designed with a pre set vertical probe angle (45°) which means that one just has to target the artery and then horizontally rotates to get the Doppler signal. Then, when starting using your Stethoflux® Doppler, you will feel very comfortable of not being disturbed by the speaker which will allow you to quietly look for the Doppler signal (which is not always easy when the patient has PAOD…).
  
  
• We are a group of several physicians in the United Kingdom. Could we get a rebate if we buy several Stethoflux®?
  Yes. Please contact us by email or fax (+33 1 42 19 00 76) and we will give you the best offer money can buy.
  
  
• Is it possible to use Stethoflux® as a foetal Doppler?
  No. Foetal Doppler needs a 2 MHz frequency whether vascular exploration has to be performed with an 8 to 10 MHz Doppler.
  
  
• Why addressing emergency situations on your home page?
  In emergency care units, Stethoflux® Doppler is used to differentiate a collapses from heart failure, or to check pulses when aortic dissection is suspected, or before a carotid sinus massage (CSM), and all the more when pulses are not found after a trauma (bimalleolar fracture...).
  
  
• In a patient at risk of arteriopathy, I find a low ABI but no intermittent claudication or trophic disorder. What should I do?
  According to recent epidemiological data, patients with a low ABI (<0.90) and without any symptom have the same cardiovascular risk as those with an intermittent claudication (Hooi JD, Kester AD, Stoffers HE, et al. Asymptomatic peripheral arterial occlusive disease predicted cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a 7-year follow-up study. J Clin Epidemiol. 2004 Mar;57(3):294-300).
  
  

• Do all foreign physicians usually measure the ABI?
  Yes. Notably in other European and North-American countries. France is decidedly on the late side and needs to catch up. The ANAES (French National Agency for Health Accreditation and Evaluation) is about to recommend systematic ABI measurements in all at-risk patients.
  
  
• I hear a femoral murmur in my stethoscope, can I switch to a Doppler examination?
  Yes, of course, and if you are not familiar with Doppler abnormalities, use the controlateral signal for reference. One of the assets of the Stethoflux® is precisely that it allows a dual investigation of arteries by stethoscope and Doppler.
  
  
• The Stethoflux® authorizes the Doppler examination of arteries; what about the veins?
  Always at hand, the Stethoflux® is designed to make arterial Doppler and ABI measurements easy. However, it should not be used to exclude the presence of a DVT (deep vein thrombosis). Nevertheless, specialists who are highly experimented in 8MHz Doppler exploration may use the Stethoflux® to investigate superficial thrombophlebitises or varicose veins.
  
  
• The Stethoflux® Doppler operating time is 2 to 3 times longer than that of pocket Dopplers. Why?
  For us, it was essential to provide our fellow doctors with an extensive device operating time. We achieved this by selecting a perfectly adapted battery (battery supplied) during our R&D process.
  
  
• What do your French colleagues think of your innovation?
  A survey was conducted by "INDICE" with the assistance of "Ile-de-France Technologie" (ref: PTR n° 04-137): 60% of doctors consider the Stethoflux® as a major progress in ambulatory medical examination.


• Can the stethoscope be used alone, without the Doppler, and vice-versa?
  Yes. This is one of the assets of the Stethoflux®: both modes (stethoscope and Doppler) are independent from one another. When the Doppler is switched off, you still have a 100% functional standard stethoscope.