Tech to give everyone a peek into the human body
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: Butterfly Network aims to make ultrasound imaging as simple and ubiquitous as bloodpressure or temperature checks — in hospitals and, eventually, in consumers’ homes.
The startup at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a low-cost, handheld scanner, based in part on work done by co-founder Nevada Sanchez, that generates clinical-quality ultrasounds on a smartphone. Ultrasounds are uploaded to the cloud, where any expert with permission can give second opinions or help analyse images.
By making ultrasound imaging more ubiquitous, the co-founders aim to help health care professionals more quickly generate life-saving diagnoses.
The device, called iQ, resembles an electric razor that plugs into an iPhone lightning jack, and essentially puts an entire ultrasound system on a chip, meaning it’s portable and sells for about US$2,000 (nearly RM8,000).
The US Food and Drug Administration has cleared the device for numerous clinical applications, including urological, abdominal, cardiovascular, fetal, gynaecological, and musculoskeletal. Tens of thousands of orders have been placed and will be shipped over the next few months.
“First users will be doctors and clinicians who are more comfortable with ultrasounds,” says Sanchez, now the startup’s chip design lead. “But, eventually, everyone from paramedics to nurses to doctors who have never used ultrasound will carry with them.”
A future aim is to sell directly to consumers, adds co-founder Jonathan Rothberg, a serial biotech entrepreneur.
The device has already proven valuable for consumer use: After joining the startup last year as chief medical officer, John Martin, a surgeon, was at a hospital testing the iQ. Having felt a lump in his throat for some time, he scanned his neck, which revealed a tumour that was then diagnosed as cancerous. He recently finished his first round of | treatment.
“I actually became the first consumer patient,” Martin says. “That underscores how powerful having a device like this in hands of people themselves will be for the future of medical care. I’m the living evidence that … lives will be saved.”
First users will be doctors and clinicians who are more comfortable with ultrasounds. But eventually, everyone from paramedics to nurses to doctors who have never used ultrasound will carry with them. – Nevada Sanchez, co-founder of Butterfly Network