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Show HN: An open-source ultrasound imaging dev kit side project
- kelu124 11y agoWould be glad to get your comments !
- raphman_ 11y agoFrom a first glance, it is not yet clear to me how far this project actually is and what its goal is. Could you give a short introduction (or point to an introductory blog post)?
- tuyguntn 11y agoRaspberry PI and Arduiono's changed a lot in embedded space, because of price and flexibility, how this board can change its space? How much does it cost to build complete solution using this project? However, unlike the technology used in most hospitals across the UK costing anywhere from £20,000-£100,000, the scanner created by Jeff Neasham and Research Associate Dave Graham at Newcastle University can be manufactured for as little as £30-40. [0] If thats true, it can be game changer in some developing countries. [0] - http://echopen.org/index.php?title=Article:_Low_cost_design_makes_ultrasound_imaging_affordable_to_the_world http://echopen.org/index.php?title=Article:_Low_cost_design_...
- kelu124 11y agoDepends on the volume of course, and of the quality of image that is expected. This board, plus transducer (necessary to get the image) in small volumes, should be around 200$. Maybe less in higher quantities, and with streamlined components. Far lower than the usual portable ultrasound scanners (costing ~5k$). But that's a work in progress so let's see! We were following the Newcastle project, but I guess the tech was finally bought by NDT -> image quality and framerate were not as good as expected. At least, haven't seen progress on medical imaging use from this end.
- imaginenore 11y agoYou need more images. I don't see a single image of it in action.
- bencollier49 11y agoYikes! This is brilliant innovation, but it should come with a pretty serious warning somewhere about the potential dangers of medical ultrasound. While the jury is still out about a lot of things, there are major reasons why the NHS in Britain discourages expectant mothers from having private "4D" scans and additional procedures. http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/02February/Pages/Warning-over-souvenir-baby-scans.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/02February/Pages/Warning-over-so... Brilliant to see you doing it though, and I'd be fascinated to see it paired with AI to make swifter diagnoses in order to cut down the length of exposure required for various measurements.
- kelu124 11y agoHey Ben, glad to read from you! Let's not worry, this part is only the electronics heart of a probe.. and still, more part of a tech dev kit than of a medical device =) edit: disclaimer included in the homepage, thanks for the idea !
- bencollier49 11y agoIt might be worth exercising the precautionary principle in this case. If someone builds your electronics and decides that you didn't warn them before they used it, you could find yourself in a difficult position. A simple disclaimer somewhere visible would do the trick.
- CamperBob2 11y ago<pet_peeve> It's never worth exercising the precautionary principle. The precautionary principle is epistemologically invalid: you can never know, much less prove, that something is "safe." The precautionary principle would have confined us to the caves, if not to the trees. In more modern times, for example, it's been used to fight nuclear power plants that might harm some people at some point, in favor of coal-fired plants that definitely do. There are valid reasons to be concerned about the effects of high-intensity ultrasound and warn potential builders of this gadget about them... but that's not the precautionary principle in action, just common sense. </pet_peeve>
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- vasili111 11y agoThat's great! It can help many developing countries.
- sitkack 11y agoEsp in sexing female fetuses! http://www.bc.edu/clubs/mendel/ethos/archives/2008/younger.shtml http://www.bc.edu/clubs/mendel/ethos/archives/2008/younger.s... > These counterfeit medical professionals lure in clients with advertisements outside their clinics stating, “pay 500 Rupees now and save 50,000 in the future”. Parents can spare a lot of time and future hardship by terminating the pregnancy early and trying again for a son in lieu of having to kill a newborn child. The clinics have proven so profitable, that ultrasound machines are even finding their way into rural villages that do not have potable water (Kumar 1998).
- kelu124 11y agoAnswer to that one is easy: with the level of details that this board can provide, one can't find the sex of the fetus - whereas placental location is still possible - and allows the medical staff to inform the mother and prepare the birth =) Still, an issue.
- deutronium 11y agoThis looks very cool! I've just been looking at your github repository, you mention you use the HV7360 chip to generate the ultrasound pulse. I'm slightly confused by the datasheet for this chip, am I right in thinking you supply +/- 100V to this chip? If so, what are you using to generate that voltage out of curiosity? (I have a ~2MHz ultrasound transducer which I keep meaning to play with, to attempt to measure liquid density, so your project is very interesting to me!)
- kelu124 11y agoHey there. Indeed, we supply HV to the pulser. Integrated is a recom dc/dc converter. Alternatively, for a DIY approach, you can as well work with something as in http://echopen.org/index.php?title=Analog_Parts_%28Farad%29#High_Pulse_Voltage http://echopen.org/index.php?title=Analog_Parts_%28Farad%29#... - for HV and pulser.
- deutronium 11y agoThanks a lot for your response, I hadn't seen those recom modules before.
- et2o 11y agoEveryone is really excited about the future expansion of inky rasping in medicine (even though it's already been in use for decades). Excited to check this out.
- ausjke 11y agoThe key question is, how good are the quality for images comparing to others? Did not find info related to that on the site yet.
- sangnoir 11y agoApologies for my somewhat off-topic question, which is only tenuously related to the topic: is there an open-source application that is capable of reading or converting .vml ultrasound scan files that are produced by proprietary devices?