eachtimedr. steve
Freemanentersapatient
room, the internist in
ruralSouthCarolina
carrieswithhimanultra-
sounddevice thesizeof
aheftysmartphone, relyingon its imaging
capabilities forevenroutinepatientvisits.
Freemancredits thatdevice,which
generates thesortofultrasound images
familiar toanyexpectantparent,with
supercharginghisdiagnosticcapabilitiesas
hequicklyscansapatient’sheart, lungsand
otherorgans.Over the lastseveralyears,
he’s identified twocasesofgallstones,
numerous instancesofenlargedprostates
and likelyhismostdramaticsave todate: a
worrisomebulgeonapatient’saorta.
Thatcrucialartery,whichsupplies
blood from theheart through thechestand
abdomen,wasso large that itwasvulnera-
ble torupturing, and themanwassentby
ambulance to thehospital,Freemansays.
“Hewasnothavinganysymptoms.”
Ifproponents likeFreemanhave their
way, thissortofdiagnosticscenariowill
playoutmore frequentlyover thenext
decade.Will that increasedrelianceupon
suchportable imaging improvepatient
care, catchingmedicalproblemssooner,
orwill itsimplyrunup treatmentbillsand
patientanxiety?Theperspective,notsur-
prisingly,dependsonwhomyouask.
Theultrasounddevices, a long-standing
fixture inhospitals, arecatching theatten-
tionofdoctors inprivatepracticeas they
becomemoreportableandaffordable, says
Dr.RichardHoppmann,whodirects the
UltrasoundInstituteat theUniversityof
SouthCarolinaSchoolofMedicine,oneof
thefirst to trainmedical students. “It’s just
amatterof timebefore it trulybecomes the
Diagnosis inHand?
Forsomedoctors, theportableultrasound isset tobecome
“thestethoscopeof the21stcentury”
TECHNOLOGY
ByCharlotteHuff
AMERICANWAY
OCTOBER2015
87
“Itgivesusa level ofconfidence in thedecision-making thatwe
didn’teverhavebefore.”
ILLUSTRATION
BRATISLAV MILENKOVIĆ
