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A convenient and miniaturized ultrasound diagnostic device has been created
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
Most people are familiar with such a type of diagnostics as ultrasound. What does a standard ultrasound machine look like? It is a rather bulky device with a separate monitor, which is installed stationary or can be moved around the room on special wheels. Agree, it is not always convenient, is it?
Specialists working with Butterfly Network have developed a new device. Its features include exceptional portability and mobility.
The company has already announced the imminent release of improved ultrasound devices. According to the creators, the device will easily fit in your pocket, and its performance will not be inferior to its predecessor.
The new device has another important advantage: its cost will be several times cheaper than other similar diagnostic devices.
What will the new portable device, which its creators have named iQ, look like? It will be no larger than an electric razor or a TV remote control.
The ultrasound machines that patients are accustomed to contain devices with quartz crystals. Electricity passes through them, which causes vibration and ultrasonic oscillations. The waves, penetrating human tissue, return and are recorded by a special sensor. The information is transformed into an impulse and displayed on the monitor in the form we are familiar with.
The new portable device does not contain quartz: the crystals are replaced by capacitive ultrasound transducers - metal plates fixed between a pair of electrodes that are built into a hardware chip. One such chip can accommodate about 9 thousand such elements that send and receive sound vibrations and transform them into a three-dimensional image. The chip can perform half a trillion operations per second, but the creators were not "greedy" and integrated a neural network based on artificial intelligence, as well as augmented reality, into the device. Instead of a monitor, you can use a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop. The information obtained during diagnostics is placed in the "cloud": it will not be difficult for any doctor from anywhere in the world to view it.
The estimated cost of the new device is about 2 thousand US dollars. For comparison, a standard ultrasound machine can cost from fifteen to one hundred thousand dollars. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved the use of iQ in medical institutions that perform diagnostics in the field of urology, cardiology, gynecology, etc. According to one of the developers of the device, doctors will have to deal with a very easy-to-use device. "The first to try the device will be doctors and other medical workers who have a certain level of training in the field of ultrasound diagnostics. But in the future, the device will also be used by paramedics and nurses - if necessary."
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