What if your general practitioner could now examine you using ultrasound?

It's done! Thanks to a solution that is revolutionizing the medical world and the lives of patients, designed by the startup echOpen, winner of the 2025 Prix Galien awarded by the French Academy of Medicine.

French startup echOpen won the Prix Galien France 2025, the highest award for innovation in healthcare. This award marks a major shift: ultrasound is no longer reserved for specialized departments. It is becoming a first-line clinical procedure, performed directly in doctors' offices.

Ultrasound enters clinical examination

For a long time, getting an ultrasound meant making an appointment, going to the imaging department, and waiting days, sometimes weeks. Thanks to a new generation of ultra-portable probes connected to smartphones, doctors can now check for any concerns in a matter of seconds, just as they would by placing a stethoscope on the chest.

This movement is already well underway: nearly 1,000 doctors in France now use an echOpen probe. At AP-HP, it is used in particular at the Cochin, Ambroise-Paré, Paul-Brousse, Saint-Louis, and Tenon hospitals.

A revolution validated by health authorities

In January 2025, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) and the French Society of Emergency Medicine (SFMU) recommended clinical ultrasound as the first-line examination in community medicine for pulmonary pathologies. This means that a general practitioner can diagnose pneumonia or assess respiratory distress immediately, without X-rays and without sending their patient for imaging. This institutional recognition highlights what many practitioners already observe: clinical ultrasound shortens diagnosis time, improves patient referral, and limits unnecessary visits to the emergency room.

The echOpen solution echOpen also echOpen validated by three clinical studies and obtained CE certification as a medical device at the end of 2023.

Very practical uses

In private practices and emergency rooms alike, the echOpen probe echOpen to guide or even diagnose abdominal pain, lower back pain, urinary symptoms, respiratory discomfort, chest pain, etc., in real time. Today, our colleagues who use echOpen, whether in private practice or in hospitals, regularly share their daily diagnoses with us: pneumonia, acute pulmonary edema, cholecystitis, pyelonephritis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, phlebitis, etc. and even less common pathologies, such as at Bordeaux University Hospital, where a patient was recently treated in the emergency room for an aortic dissection thanks to an ultrasound scan performed at her bedside.

"Receiving the Prix Galien is a source of immense pride. This award recognizes our scientific excellence, but above all, a vision that is now shared: that of clinical ultrasound as a first-line tool for immediate medical decision-making. Like the stethoscope in its day, the echOpen probe echOpen as a personal and indispensable tool for modern diagnosis," says Dr. Mehdi Benchoufi, co-founderechOpen.

"For my work as an emergency physician, echOpen become an indispensable tool. It's the immediate diagnostic aid that all doctors, especially those working in emergency departments, should have in their pockets," explains Professor Cédric Gil Jardine, Emergency Physician at Bordeaux University Hospital.

A French innovation, designed for the field

Co-developed with AP-HP and manufactured in France, the echOpen probe has established itself as a personal diagnostic tool for doctors in the field. Three clinical studies have validated its usefulness in quickly confirming or refuting a medical hypothesis.

With this recognition from the Prix Galien, echOpen continue the widespread deployment of clinical ultrasound in France and is preparing a new generation of artificial intelligence-based features to speed up diagnosis, enhance training, and broaden access to this practice.

AboutechOpen

echOpen is a start-up whose mission is to make clinical ultrasound accessible to all healthcare professionals and to play an active role in improving public health. echOpen co-founded by Dr. Mehdi Benchoufi, PhD, Olivier de Fresnoye, and Dr. Pierre Bourrier. Its solution, the echOpen probe, is designed and manufactured in France. Versatile, reliable, and effective, the echOpen probe connects to any smartphone to enhance clinical examinations in all environments. Complemented by secure, educational digital services, the echOpen solution echOpen as indispensable as the stethoscope.