How a doctor got a cancer diagnosis through an iPhone

Image: Youtube/Butterfly Network

This ultrasound device may save you a trip to the hospital.

Ultrasounds have long required a technician and machines, using crystal technology, and have been large and expensive.

But at $1,999 (about P103,000), the Butterfly IQ hopes to expand the reach of ultrasound scanners to the average person, according to the MIT Technology Review.

Instead of vibrating crystal, it performs ultrasounds through 9,000 tiny drums on a semiconductor chip no bigger than a post stamp. The device itself is the size of an electric razor.

Image: Youtube/Butterfly Network

It simply needs to be attached to a smartphone to view results.

This is how surgeon John Martin discovered he had cancer: he was testing the device on his throat, in which he had been feeling some discomfort.

The test results on his phone screen showed a dark mass of about three centimeters, and he has since been able to receive treatment with surgery and radiation.

The start-up, Butterfly Network, was founded in 2011 and has raised $100 million for its product. Competing with them are portable ultrasound devices that still use crystal technology and cost $6,000 (about P310,000).

Even if the cart-driven machines generate clearer images, the company hopes to make scanning tests more accessible, whether in remote regions or in an ambulance.

“If you have a window into the body where anyone can afford it, everyone can use it, and everyone can interpret it, it becomes a heck of a lot more than an ultrasound device,” Martin stressed. Niña V. Guno/JB

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