When the iPhone OS v3.0 came out, there was talk of medical peripherals at Apple's presentation.  While such thoughts might strike some as odd, the prospect of medical devices attached to smartphones is becoming increasingly considered.

A pair of computer engineers at Washington University has developed a USB-based ultrasound probe technology which connects to smart phones and an interface program to display the results directly on the phone screen.  The new device, invented by William D. Richard, Ph.D., WUSTL associate professor of computer science and engineering, and David Zar, research associate in computer science and engineering, won't be used on Apple's iPhone anytime soon, though -- it was funded by Microsoft.

Microsoft gave the researchers a $100,000 grant and it has paid off handsomely, as the pair has completed an intriguing device for Windows Mobile smartphones.  The task of porting the imaging algorithms to the phone APIs and making a peripheral that met the low power requirements were daunting, but in the end the pair succeeded.

Their device is capable of delivering imaging of the kidneys, liver, bladder and eyes, and comes with endocavity probes for prostate and uterine screenings and biopsies, and vascular probes for imaging veins and arteries for starting IVs and central lines.

Describes Professor Richard, "You can carry around a probe and cell phone and image on the fly now.  Imagine having these smartphones in ambulances and emergency rooms. On a larger scale, this kind of cell phone is a complete computer that runs Windows. It could become the essential computer of the Developing World, where trained medical personnel are scarce, but most of the population, as much as 90 percent, have access to a cell phone tower."

Professor Zar adds, "Twenty-first century medicine is defined by medical imaging.  Yet 70 percent of the world's population has no access to medical imaging. It's hard to take an MRI or CT scanner to a rural community without power."

Professor Richard designed the probe electronics.  He was able to, over the course of over 25 years, shrink the probe from the size of a small cabinet, to a 1x3 inch design.  The costs also dropped, down from $30,000 to $2,000.  He believes the units will eventually cost $500, opening them up to the third world.  Professor Zar optimized the software, an equally daunting task.

The pair is currently demoing their device at Microsoft and health events across the country.  They have two main plans for deployment.  One is to potentially partner with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to deploy the device in a series of field trials in the third world.

The other plan is to deploy the device in battlefields, such as Iraq or Afghanistan, to help diagnose soldier's shrapnel wounds.  Such a deployment could literally save lives.  States Professor Richard, "We're at the point of wanting to leverage what we've done with this technology and find as many applications as possible."