Portable medical scanners built to interface with cellphones

You know those elephant-sized medical scanners? Totally amazing machines, sure, but things like that aren't apt to be shipped into obscure jungles throughout Africa. Thankfully, a team of researchers have developed something that could bring medical scanning to an even larger chunk of the world: a real live Tricorder. Of course, it's not really going by that moniker, but the diminutive scanner is able to interface with a cellphone via USB and utilize its 3G / WiFi access to send raw scan data to servers and receive images back. Granted, you won't get any high-resolution viewing from your average mobile, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

[Rex @ May 2nd 2008 6:59AM]

"Pass me the tricorder!"

"I cannae give ya the tricorder, Doctor, I need the batteries to reinforce the shields... The cap'ain wants me to give him all she's got..."

[QMan @ May 2nd 2008 7:17AM]

There are already ultrasound scanners that aren't much bigger than a cell phone (Siemens makes one). The problem is that the acquisition devices for most other imaging modalities (CT or MRI, say) are much too large and complex to benefit from this concept. (The authors of this study used electrical impedance tomography.)

[John Aubrey @ May 2nd 2008 7:38AM]

why USB and not bluetooth?

[frank @ May 2nd 2008 7:39AM]

great for use in some remote jungle in africa with no scanners available, oh, but there would propably not be 3G or Wifi service either.

[Paul Brown @ May 6th 2008 4:58PM]

Can you say HIPPA Violations boys and girls?

Duh!!!

[Andrei C @ May 2nd 2008 11:09AM]

not necessarilly. The image stream need not contain any information about the patient. just a code of some sort

[frankXchange @ May 2nd 2008 9:14AM]

I'm sorry Mr. Smith, you have cancer. Oh wait, sorry, that's just glare on my cell phone screen. Congratulations, you're in perfect health...I think.

[dhughes @ May 2nd 2008 9:20AM]

Too bad the VeinViewer and one of those micro projectors couldn't be incorporated into a phone so you could view under the skin in real-time.

[Kamal @ May 2nd 2008 11:31AM]

will this work with an iphone?

[blueeyesm @ May 2nd 2008 12:19PM]

"Is it a tumour?"

"Itz naut uh Too-muh!"

[EM @ May 5th 2008 2:50PM]

I think the real achievement here is that they've managed to design a medical device that doesn't inexplicably kill people if you dare to use it in the same building with a cell phone.

[TURNERSVILLE @ May 2nd 2008 12:34PM]

Bluetooth monitors already exist!! The Nonin 9560 can sync to your cell phone!!

http://www.turnermedical.com/Nonin_Onyx_2_9560_Bluetooth_Pulse_Oximeter.htm

[Vic20 @ May 2nd 2008 2:03PM]

Before 20 original comments are posted, some hardcore TOS fan will have mentioned from which episode that screenshot is taken.

...and probably the timecode of the framegrab.

[ED @ May 2nd 2008 10:38PM]

Lifesigns detector?