The technological march of the mobile phone continues this week after a University of California professor revealed a useful, on-the-go system that can provide doctors with a portable method for scanning and sending medical images.
Mobile phones aid accessible, cheap and portable medical imaging system. Image: Meyshanworld/Flickr.
According to bioengineering professor Boris Rubinsky, by utilising a portable electromagnetic scanner, a regular mobile phone handset, and a computer, doctors will be able to gain easy (and comparatively cheap) access to medical images usually limited to non-portable machinery that costs in the region of $10,000 USD.
Rubinsky’s system works by connecting the portable scanner to the mobile phone, which in turn transfers the scanned patient data to a waiting computer in a hospital or a doctor’s office. Costing only a few hundred dollars, the easy-to-use imaging method could significantly increase the global accessibility of medical imaging technology.
Related information gathered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals that only around a third of the world’s population currently has access to medical imaging, while approximately half of all imaging equipment dispatched to developing nations is seen as ineffectual due to a lack of proper operational training.
“I can see so many applications in which the cell phone becomes an integral part of a medical device,” commented Professor Rubinsky in reference to the global proliferation of mobile devices. “A cell phone can cut the cost of almost every [diagnostic] device.”
Professor Rubinsky is not alone in his observations regarding the many potential medical uses associated with mobile phone technology. Business Week reports that there are numerous on-going developments that are looking to incorporate the versatility of mobile phone technology into medical practice.
For example, American software giant Microsoft is presently funding 17 healthcare-related university projects that involve the incorporation of mobile phones. These include the capture and transfer of ultrasound readings, and also the development of a heart monitor that works in conjunction with a mobile phone to analysis heart data and even notify emergency services as to prelim diagnosis and location in the event of dangerous cardiac activity.
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