FDA OKs iPads for medical diagnoses
Published 12:01 am Saturday, February 5, 2011
WASHINGTON — Add diagnosing soft-tissue injuries to online banking, e-mail, video games and thousands of other applications available on iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches.
The Food and Drug Administration ushered in the era of mobile diagnostic radiology Friday, approving software for viewing images and making medical diagnoses from MRIs and CT, PET and SPECT scans on several of Apple Inc.’s popular hand-held devices.
The FDA reviewed image quality and checked studies with radiologists using the devices under variable lighting conditions and determined that the Apple devices running Mobile MIM software offered clear enough images for diagnostic interpretation.
Mobile MIM, made by MIM Software Inc. of Cleveland, includes a safety guide and screen features meant to ensure that the physician can recognize subtle differences in contrast needed to make a proper diagnosis.
It is not approved for reading X-rays or mammograms.
