Vendors are beginning to look for ways that smartphones could enable clinicians to quickly and inexpensively gain insight into patients through imaging. For example, Butterfly Network, a rising medical imaging company, is making a pocket-sized ultrasound device that plugs into an iPhone. The medical imaging firm began selling its first product, called the iQ. Priced at $ 2,000—significantly less than conventional ultrasound imaging machines—it could make the scans vastly more accessible.
In another example, a novel way to locate “regions of interest” in dermoscopy images can improve the detection of skin lesions, through the use of an app on a consumer mobile device, enabling real time identification and diagnosis of cancer and other skin conditions, according to new research reported in arXiv.org, part of the Cornell University Library. The approach uses an attachment to a smartphone that improves its ability to image skin lesions.