Medical Mobile Sonography Diagnostic Device is a new portable and compact ultra-high density ultrasonic (PFMUT) array and new high-resolution acoustic sensor that can be connected to a mobile device. The system is portable, flexible, and energy efficient and enables a high level of coverage and security of health care. The project will be a cost-efficient telemedical diagnostic device affordable for every general practitioner, family doctor, patient, and citizen in the whole European and EFTA area. By using the mobile device, the data can be transferred via a database to a specialist i.e. (sonographers, doctors) with a video (4D), as an image or as a 3D model for further analysis and diagnosis. The device will be user-friendly for screening and prevention for breast cancer, skin diseases, bone fractures, emergency medication etc. The product will be a significant relief contribution as a countermeasure to the future shortage of doctors or areas with low or non-public health services.

This product and the associated manufacturing process are novel and based on the semiconductor industry. The assembly and manufacturing process of the sensor, the design of the sensor, the design of the sensor assembly and the ultra-thin multilayer flexible conductor (MCM multichip module) are new high technologies. Due to the low number of patents in the EU and EFTE, in the field of ultrasound (sonography) and the position of sonography as a key medical technology (market research of the DRG codes in Germany, Switzerland). The new patents from the project will create a possible leading market position for the economic area, which would be protected for 10-18 years (patent period minus approval period for the medical device registration in Switzerland and the EU).
The technology makes it possible to generate a resolution more than 10 times higher than all existing competitor products via a mobile device. The device enables multiple higher frequencies and has the possibility to resolve small areas in more detail. The images can be displayed in 4D, as an image or 3D model and can be transmitted live to a telemedical doctor. The higher resolution makes it possible for the first time to make the sensor and the technology accessible to a wider audience and to reduce the diagnostic risks associated with image analysis by the physician (sonographer). Our medical device will be a game changer in the EU and in the EFTA area. The new sonographic sensor will be based on a completely new transducer technology, specifically the use of piezo-electric flexible multilayer transducers (PFMUT).

The sensor is lightweight, portable, and compact, affordable for all physicians in Europe, usable in remote locations and applicable for all citizens. This opens new markets for this diagnostic method for the public health care professionals and can also be introduced as a consumer product. The product enables large-scale screening and prevention studies with minimal logistical and organizational costs. There is no comparable technology product on the market.

MEDUS medical sonography helps to solve is to provide information on the inner composition and workings of a patient’s body without having to cut it open. There are many solutions of which most are complementary and only few interchangeable:

– Endoscopy

– Biochemical screening

– Computed Tomography (CT) / X-ray scanning

– Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

– Sonography

Endoscopy only allows looking at hollow organs or cavities and has therefore very limited uses. Biochemical screening uses biomarkers to deduce the inner state of organs and the body as a whole. It is therefore likewise very limited and cannot, e.g., provide any information on the shape and size of inner organs. Computed Tomography (CT) and X-ray scanning create detailed images of the structure and composition of a body, including bones and soft tissue. They do, however, use harmful radiation and are therefore only used when necessary and not on pregnant women. They are also very expensive, big and immobile. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is like CT but uses strong magnetic fields instead of radiation. It is particularly well suited for imaging soft tissue, but the fact that it uses strong magnetic fields makes it slow, expensive, and not suitable for patients with certain implanted devices. Like CT, MRI devices are also large, expensive, and stationary.

MEDUS uses sonography, which uses reflections and the impedance of ultrasonic waves to scan tissue and create 2D/3D (4D) images. While sonography does not nearly reach the image quality of CT or MRI, it is harmless, relatively cheap and can be fit into small mobile devices. With the improved image quality our new device will offer, some medical applications previously reserved for CT or MRI may soon be within the capabilities of sonography.