SURGEON USES IPHONE - BASED ULTRASOUND DEVICE TO DIAGNOSE HIS OWN CANCER

A vascular surgeon using his own neck to test an iPhone-based portable ultrasonic scanner found that cancerous cells were present. He was testing the advice after joining the startup making the device.

Conventional ultrasound machines are large and expensive, but this one is small enough to be used anywhere, and will be a comparative bargain at $2000. It uses the iPhone to display the results, and Butterfly Network says that it wants to go even further, turning it into a device that can be used without medical training.

By next year, it believes, its software will let users automatically calculate how much blood a heart is pumping, or detect problems like aortic aneurisms.

iPhones are also being used to help with all kinds of other medical diagnoses, including blood pressure monitoring, mental health studies, cholesterol measurement, ECG monitoring, eyesight tests and food analysis.