This Tablet Turns Any Hospital Ultrasound Machine Into a Cardiac Training Tool

DESKi, a French medical technology company, just released a product that could change how hospitals teach cardiac ultrasound. Called HeartFocus Link, it connects to any existing cart-based ultrasound system through a simple tablet and an HDMI cable, then overlays real-time AI guidance directly onto the live image. The goal is straightforward: help more clinicians learn a notoriously difficult skill without requiring hospitals to buy new equipment.

Cardiac ultrasound is hard to master. It demands precise hand movements and pattern recognition that typically take months or years to develop. Meanwhile, demand keeps rising. Between 2011 and 2021, ultrasound exam volume in the U.S. jumped 55 percent, while the sonographer workforce grew only 44 percent. Training program capacity expanded just 23 percent. The result, according to figures reported by The Next Web, is that only 8 percent of eligible hospitalized patients receive an echocardiogram, despite evidence that it lowers mortality. Sonographer vacancy rates hit 16.7 percent in 2023 and stood at 12.4 percent in 2025.

HeartFocus Link tackles this gap by working with what hospitals already own. A tablet runs the software. An HDMI cable feeds the live ultrasound feed to it. The AI then projects positioning cues directly onto that image. Users keep their eyes on one screen. The system supports all 10 standard transthoracic echocardiographic views. Two training features stand out: Auto Record saves clips when image quality crosses a set threshold, and real-time scoring provides an objective percentage instead of subjective instructor judgment. These tools reduce the burden on expert sonographers who otherwise supervise every practice scan.

“Cart-based systems make up the majority of clinical ultrasound infrastructure, yet utilization is often limited to a small pool of specialists,” said Bertrand Moal, PhD, MD, and CEO of DESKi, in a company announcement. “The equipment is already there. What’s been missing is a scalable way to help more healthcare professionals build familiarity, competency, and confidence.”

Clinical evidence backs the approach. A peer-reviewed study in JACC: Advances showed that novice users, including nurses with no prior ultrasound experience, could acquire diagnostic-quality images of all 10 standard views. In one cohort, 100 percent of nurses succeeded across 100 percent of patients. The AI demonstrated specificity above 99 percent. Participants reported confidence after roughly nine practice acquisitions.

DESKi was founded in 2016 by brothers Bertrand and Olivier Moal. The Bordeaux-based team raised a $6 million seed round in 2025. Their first product, the HeartFocus app, earned FDA clearance in April 2025. The company also partnered with Inteleos to create the first AI-specific cardiac point-of-care ultrasound certification, which arrived in April 2026.

Early availability targets medical schools, residency programs, and training centers. Clinical use on cart-based systems will expand later once regulatory clearances align. For now, the product is limited to education and practice—not diagnosis. But the idea is simple: give people the right prompt at the right moment, and they learn faster.