Cardiology is an extremely demanding medical specialty and it is not surprising that it is one of the most competitive categories for manufacturers of diagnostic ultrasound systems. There is constant development of new quantification features, and ways to measure and analyze for diagnosis in the cardiac realm.
4D cardiac has become more and more common trickling down from premium into high-end and even some midrange ultrasound machines. A wide range of cardiac sector probes allow for a scan on every type of patient, and even pediatric and neonatal cardiology has seen rapid growth in probes built for these small patients that find their way into all segments even the economy category. Single crystal and Matrix probes are also moving from the premium down into the high-end markets. Because of this, newer cardiac ultrasound machines are much more likely to be purchased, rather than users holding onto the same unit for a decade as sometimes happens in other applications that are not as power and feature-rich.
Cardiac ultrasound requires faster screen refreshes than any other application as the motion of the beating heart needs to be accurately measured and visualized. Post exam image and video clip processing are much more common in cardiac ultrasound machines than in systems optimized for other applications.