Will personal ultrasound scanners be readily available and accessible as home glucose or blood pressure monitors? It is possible right now with the Butterfly iQ handheld ultrasound wand and an iPhone– recently showcased at the CES 2019 at Las Vegas.
The new FDA cleared, pocket-sized ultrasound ushers in a new era of medical imaging at a fraction of the cost of large in-office machines. Currently, the FDA clearance covers 13 clinical applications, the broadest ever for a single ultrasound transducer.
The technology is currently only available for trained medical professionals, but shortly it may be possible to get an ultrasound examination without leaving the comforts of the home. The Butterfly team is beta testing software that can guide patients to capture the scans correctly and share it with respective healthcare providers in real time.
iQ is equipped with the latest Ultrasound-on-Chip technology™, where a single silicon chip replaces the piezo-electric crystals of the traditional ultrasound machines. The 2D array of 9000 programmable micro-machined sensors eliminate the need of linear, curved or phased probes for different parts of body. A single probe can be used to image different systems of the body including Ob/gyn, cardiology, musculoskeletal, and many others. Just slather the probe with gel, and it is possible to switch between different examinations easily.
The probe is compatible with many iPhone models including Apple iOS 11.0 or newer. The built-in battery is optimized for 2 hours continuous scanning or 10-hour shift and can be easily recharged by placing it on the wireless charging base. The iQ device is sleek and housed in an anodized aluminum body to withstand fall or temperature variations,
All the data and images are stored on Butterfly cloud and can be accessed from anywhere at any time. HTTPS, TLS 1.2 and AES 256-bit encryption and monitoring ensure that patient’s scan and personal is protected while at rest and at the time of sharing with the colleagues, peer or health providers. Images can be shared as easily as texting. Just open the image, tag the person and send it as a message.
The Ultrasound comes with deep learning-based artificial intelligence applications tightly coupled to the hardware and helps clinicians with both image acquisition and interpretation. As more and more clinicians use the system, the data acquired to improve the neural network models. This, in turn, will enable the less skilled personnel to capture images correctly.
Priced under $2,000, the Butterfly iQ is currently available for purchase in the US, but it can be reserved for purchase in other countries.
Here is a video about working of Butterfly iQ
