If you are a physician who needs to review a patients MRI to diagnose an internal injury, according to the FDA, it is now possible to do so viewing the images on one of Apple’s popular hand-held computers. Based on the image quality of their display screens, the FDA has approved the use of iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices as a means of reviewing MRIs and many other medical image results.
The popular hand-helds have been approved using a software program, called Mobile MIM, made by Cleveland based MIM Software Inc. The company’s application ensures that the contrast in the image scans is high enough to allow doctors to differentiate between healthy tissue and the injured areas.
One area in which the new software, and mobile platform, will prove their worth is in a situation in which a doctor or technician in one part of the country needs to get a second opinion from a colleague in another part of the world.
The recent announcement is a big step forward in the use of technology to improve the speed, quality and accessibility of health care. The approval does not, at this time however, include X-rays or mammograms.