Smartphone based ultrasound gets FDA go

A smartphone based ultrasound imaging system has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA has granted Washington-based mobile health start-up Mobisante clearance for the MobiUS solution.

This uses a smartphone and internet cloud services to create a commercial system that can be used for ultrasound imaging, measurement and analysis of the human body, and abdominal, cardiac, pelvic, pediatric, musculoskeletal, and peripheral vessel imaging.

The system can use cellular networks or wi-fi to send images to a remote expert for diagnosis or second opinion or to a picture archiving and communication for storage.

Dr Sailesh Chutani, chief executive and cofounder of Mobisante said it put ultrasound capabilities into the hands of healthcare providers in rural areas or working in communities with low population density and few resources.

“We will now focus on launching MobiUS in selected markets and pursuing the CE mark in Europe," he added.

The mobile ultrasound imaging system will cost $7,000 and $8,000 (£4,340-£4,960). This will include a Toshiba Windows Mobile-powered smartphone, an ultrasound probe and the Mobisante software.

The company said that that it hopes to cut the cost of the system by 50% over time but that "the pricetag is still much lower than the tens of thousands or in some cases more than $100,000 other ultrasound systems cost today.”