Picture this: a doctor is at a luncheon when suddenly someone falls out of their chair and is convulsing. The doctor runs over to the person and quickly examines him. He suspects that the problem is fluid around the person’s heart but he can’t be sure without extensive testing. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out…a cell phone? You wonder why the doctor would pull out his cell phone, when suddenly you see that he’s also pulling out some sort of wand-like instrument. The next thing you know he’s performing an ultrasound, via his cell phone, right then and there.
Need an ultrasound? Turns out there’s an app for that! The FDA has recently approved an app called MobiUS. This is a medical ultrasound imaging system that allows doctors to use an ultrasound wand, and their smart phone, along with the app, to actually perform an ultrasound on a patient. And not only can the doctor look at the ultrasound then and there, no matter where he is, he can also analyze the images thanks to the app and, best of all, he can transfer the data wirelessly to whichever institution needs to have access to it. This means that the face of medicine is changing. No longer are doctors going to be forced to wait to diagnose someone until they’ve had a scheduled ultrasound, but they can do it right there, wherever they happen to be, no matter if they’re in their clinic with a patient or at a luncheon.
While it’s unlikely, at least as of yet, that this form of ultrasound will overtake traditional ultrasounds, it is a great option for doctors who work in remote areas. In many cases doctors who work in smaller towns and areas around the country are forced to wait for days, sometimes weeks, for their patient to get the ultrasound that they need. With this new ultrasound app that’s no longer a necessity. Now doctors who are concerned for their patients can perform an ultrasound right then and there, not only saving a huge amount of time, but also saving money as well. This app is only the start of things, by the rumblings heard in the medical community, and sooner rather than later we’ll likely find that doctors are able to do a host of other medical things via their smart phone or table PC.