Are smartphones the new stethoscopes

Serendipity: today I was talking with one of my MIT thesis students about what will become the next 'stethoscope' for doctors. GE believes that it should be its compact ultrasound Vscan should be the next stethoscope, as Engadget reported recently:

the not-quite-flip phone tricorder Vscan, which all kidding aside is one of the smallest functional ultrasound machines we've seen. The goal is for doctors to have better access to specialist tools, reducing the number of referrals and improving diagnoses, etc. -- and we're sure selling an absolute ton of these is probably on the to-do list as well

Tricorder ultrasound

Perhaps the smartphone, which is in the process of eating the consumer electronics industry is, however, also going to eat at least the low end of the medical devices industry:

Smartphones could be the most important diagnostic tool of this century as part of a revolution in digital wireless medical devices, according to Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist working at The Scripps Research Institute, speaking at the TedMed conference last year. In a video released earlier this week, Topol shows off patches communicating with his smartphone to continuously monitor his vital signs.

[ted id=772]

Comments

[Matthew Thompson]

Here's a link to a smartphone based ultrasound app. It's only available on Windows Mobile 6.1 (guess that's what happens when Microsoft pays to develop it!). The software is free too, just need to buy the probe.
http://www.gizmag.com/ultrasound-images-a-snap-with-a-smartphone/11556/