Friday, April 24, 2009

Wow: Ultrasound Phones!

"Looking back on this 10 years from now, these are going to be used in places we never would have imagined:"
In a twist of engineering that could redefine mobile medicine, researchers have built an ultrasound device that can be plugged directly into a smart phone's USB port. The system can capture ultrasound images of pregnant bellies and blocked carotid arteries, display them immediately on-screen, and even use the phone's capabilities to send that data just about anywhere in the world.
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The images themselves are smaller and less detailed than those from a full-size ultrasound. But while it has yet to undergo rigorous testing and comparisons, the researchers believe that its capabilities should be more than sufficient for many medical applications. They point to a number of potential uses: remote medicine for rural communities and developing nations, emergency imaging of patients en route to the hospital, battlefield medicine, and even home use in patients with chronic diseases.

1 comment:

Dag said...

It seems to me that rather than checking my e-mail 20 times a day I'll do the same with my new ultra sound machine, checking my arteries.