Imagine poorer and more remote communities throughout the world having access to ultrasounds, X-rays, or MRIs with only a cell phone as the key piece of "medical" equipment needed?

Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a computational technique that breaks down the components needed to quickly transmit medical images. By reducing large scale images to mere kilobytes, the team created a system that could make imaging technology inexpensive and accessible to three-quarters of the non-industrialized parts of the globe. The key is moving the image processing tasks, which typically require a great deal of calculations, to a remote server.

The research is being led by Boris Rubinsky, professor of bioengineering and mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, who also works at the Hebrew University.
According to Rubinsky, most medical imaging devices consist of three essential components: data acquisition hardware that is connected to the patient, the image processing software and a monitor to display the image. When these components are combined in one unit, machine parts often become redundant, substantially increasing the cost of the device.

Rubinsky and his team decided to physically separate these components so that the most complicated part--the processing software used to reconstruct the raw data into a meaningful image--could be moved offsite, to a central location, indeed to any large medical facility with the resources for the operation and maintenance of the image processor. This central processor location could then service many remote sites that would only need far simpler machines to collect the raw data from patients.

Enter the cellphone.

A post-doctoral researcher, Antoni Ivorra, working with Dr. Rubinsky, explains its role.

"The phone, hooked up to the data acquisition device, would transmit the raw data to the central server where the information would be used to create the image. The server would then relay the image back to the cell phone, where it can be viewed on the cell phone's screen," Ivorra says.

Cell phones exist even in the farthest reaches of the globe. "They are so prevalent," Ivorra adds, "because so little infrastructure is needed to maintain wireless networks. As for the data acquisition device, one can be made with off-the-shelf parts that anyone with basic technical training can operate."

"This design significantly lowers the cost of medical imaging because the apparatus at the patient site is greatly simplified and there is no need for personnel highly trained in imagine processing."

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