The FDA has approved a new mobile smartphone ultrasound system from Mobisante software company, reports Mobile Health News.
The ‘Mobius’ mobile ultrasound imaging system allows the user to perform remote ultrasounds and transmit the data back to the medical center or specialist using wireless cellphone networks or wi-fi.
Mobisante’s device is intended for ultrasound imaging, analysis and measurement in fetal/obstetrical, abdominal, cardiac, pelvic, pediatric, mucoskeletal, and peripheral vessel imaging.
Intended for use in remote villages, field hospitals, or anywhere with limited resource, the highly-portable smartphone ultrasound system can use both cellular and wi-fi to send images for diagnosis, second opinion, or to an archiving system for storage.
Priced around $8,000 U.S., the system costs far less than traditional bulky carts, and is fairly simple to operate. Once the images are captured, they can be sent to medical professionals for review.
“Almost 90 percent of the world’s population lives within the reach of a cell phone tower," said Dr Sailesh Chutani, CEO and co-founder of Mobisante. "Since cellular networks are everywhere, we want to use the cell phone platform to save lives."