Doctor uses his iPhone to diagnose himself with cancer

A doctor has managed to diagnose himself with cancer by using his iPhone.

Dr John Martin is a vascular surgeon in Denver, Colorado and chief medical officer of Butterfly Network.

You are probably asking...

Who are Butterfly Network?

They are a company that is developing an ultrasound device that can connect to an iPhone.

The machine is called Butterfly iQ and even before the product had been fully tested, Dr Martin knew it could work.

After feeling a mass in his throat, he used the device to scan the area and the results showed that he had metastatic cancer.

As an expert in the field for 40 years he was sure the diagnostics were not good but sought further confirmation from a technician.

The Daily Mail quote him as saying:

I noticed this mass in my neck.

I realised I was holding the diagnostic study I needed in my hand.

I walked across to a technician, and we looked at each other, and I flew home the next morning.

But the first thing he thought when he saw the image was that he was thankful his team had invented the ultrasound technology.

The cancer had started on his tongue and spread to his throat.

Dr Martin has now undergone successful surgery on the tumour and after six weeks of radiation is now reported to have been cured.

You can watch his story in the video below.

The device will immediately produce a diagnosis of a patient's condition on the screen of their iPhone.

Butterfly iQ will be used in clinical trials next year and high-risk patients will be able to take the device home with them.

Jonathan Rothberg, the founder of the company believes that the technology could also help people suffering from various illnesses such as diabetes and lung problems.

Dr Martin added, via Technology Review:

To look at this as just an ultrasound device is like looking at an iPhone and saying it’s just a phone.

If you have a window into the body where anyone can afford it, everyone can use it, and everyone can interpret it, it becomes a heck of a lot more than an ultrasound device.

HT Daily Mail

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