A University of Calgary medical and scientific team has created an iPhone application which lets doctors view medical images on the iPhone.
The device works to specifically diagnose and treat patients suffering from heart attacks, trauma, strokes and other acute conditions.
“Think of the millions of dollars per year in savings to the medical system if strokes could be properly diagnosed and treated much more quickly," said Dr. Bryon Osing, CEO of Calgary Scientific,"Let alone the reduction in human pain and suffering,”he added.
Dr. Ross Mitchell, a U of C professor of radiology and clinical sciences and the founder of Calgary Scientific, a company which commercializes lab products said he came up with the idea in 2008.
It became a reality when the 3G iPhone application left the lab and became a commercial product. The Resolution MD Mobile Software received Health Canada approval April 16.
A remote computer server transfers medical images from hospital CT scans to the iPhone. A physician can then receive the information if they have full cellular networks or wireless network, says Mitchell said. He also says the device is good for remote areas where specialists are not always around, he said and allows other physicians to diagnose and treat various conditions.
“This will really help level the acute care medicine playing field for non-urban Canadians,” said, Mitchell.
The images can be seen in 3D and cut to the angles doctors need in a short time. The server also gives doctors access to large amounts of data the iPhone’s memory
could not otherwise hold.
“The iPhone is not a very powerful device, so in essence, it’s acting more like a terminal for the output of the rendering or the work that’s being done by the server,” said Mitchell.
Clinical trials are still being done with mixed views about whether a small device, and screen can hold the same amount of information as the tools used in hospitals.
Mitchell tested the iPhone software's ability to diagnose a stroke, and said he received almost the same conclusions as tests performed on a medical station in controlled hospital environments.
It is a “good omen” the device can be used in various situations, he said, but hospitals would need to validate each one and test the device for their own purposes.Currently, trials are being done at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Mitchell said he was proud of the device, but more proud that Calgary Scientific was able to increase its value and functionality and resell it to other large corporations already inthe market.
“In short order, we can see this deployed literally around the world because Calgary Scientific has enough partners who signed with them to distribute this technology,” Mitchell said.