Using Cellphone Technology to Help Facilitate Remote Medical Imaging

Technocrat

Using Cellphone Technology to Help Facilitate Remote Medical Imaging

zogger

Tue May 13 21:36:25 -0700 2008

Health+and+Medicine

A new paper is outlining a concept of using mostly off the shelf hardware combined together to make it possible to have cheaper and faster modern imaging type technology to be used in remote and developing world areas. The system uses a cellphone, a simplified Data Acquisition Device, then a remote server and imaging reconstruction computer.

.."The new system replaces the conventional stand-alone medical imaging device with a new medical imaging system made of two independent components connected through cellular phone technology. The independent units are: a) a data acquisition device (DAD) at a remote patient site that is simple, with limited controls and no image display capability and b) an advanced image reconstruction and hardware control multiserver unit at a central site. The cellular phone technology transmits unprocessed raw data from the patient site DAD and receives and displays the processed image from the central site. (This is different from conventional telemedicine where the image reconstruction and control is at the patient site and telecommunication is used to transmit processed images from the patient site). The primary goal of this study is to demonstrate that the cellular phone technology can function in the proposed mode." Full open access article at the link

Using Cellphones for Remote Medical Imaging

Bhima

Wed May 14 01:23:05 -0700 2008

Zogger, the title is inaccurate. They are not using actual handys but rather using cell coms technology. So it's not like I can use the camera in my iPhone or anything like that. Still a cool idea though.. and it could used for a lot of other things.

Using Cellphones for Remote Medical Imaging

Harry the Bastard

Wed May 14 13:16:39 -0700 2008

I would have to say that this is a logical outcome. Not just for medical tech, but for all tech.

The cost of a data capable module that can be embedded into a device has become trivial. (I was quoted approx US$50 per piece for 1000 off qty EDGE/GSM multiband module with several Mbyte storage last year. Modules are about the size of a credit card) WiFi modules are around the US$20 mark.

Fairly powerful micros can be had for around the US$10 mark. The list of this sort of stuff is becomming endles. It also makes development of much more sophisticated stuff much easier, not just because of the functionality, but also because it makes it MUCH easier to pass all the relevant regulatory requirements (FCC / CE / UL ...) without having to respin the design due to missing some mandatory design target. Thus getting the product to market faster, with much lower development costs.

In fact the cost of assembly these days often exceeds the cost of the parts, quite the reverse of even just 10 years ago!