A cardiologist managed to diagnose himself with kidney stones by using his mobile phone.
After experiencing pain in his sides for several days, Californian-based Dr Eric Topol attempted to work out what was wrong.
Dr Topol, who works at Scripps Health in La Jolla, plugged a portable ultrasound scanner into his phone and held the device against his body.
He said: 'I never thought I was going to need to use it.
'I thought it was a kidney stone, but I wasn't sure because it wasn't severe, but it was persistent,' Vocativ reported.
Dr Topol uses smartphone ultrasound scanners on all of his patients.
He even connected a machine that detects heart rhythms, known as an electrocardiogram, to his iPhone to diagnose a fellow passenger's heart attack on a plane in 2012.
Smartphone ultrasounds started being granted FDA approval back in 2011, however, Dr Topol says the cutting-edge technology is not taking off as he hoped.
He said: 'Beyond a lack of training and habit, there are reimbursement issues.
'If you use this device as a doctor, you can't bill for it.'
Dubiously accurate apps like the blood pressure reader 'Instant Blood Pressure' have also discouraged doctors from adopting the technology.
Scientists at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, found the best-selling app gives inaccurate results almost 80 percent of the time.
The device claims to estimate a users blood pressure when they place their finger over the camera lens and push the bottom of the phone into their chest.
Yet, Dr Topol argues using mobile ultrasound devices helps to improve a patient's relationship with their doctor, rather than the ultrasound being sent to the laboratory and the patient being left clueless.
He said: 'The technician isn't allowed to tell that patient anything...so the patient goes home without any knowledge of what the scan shows.'
As the technology behind such devices become more affordable and accessible, Dr Topol believes patients may one day be able to take their own scans and send the images to a doctor.
Beyond that, trained algorithms may one day take the place of doctors in interpreting the scans, he said.
This comes after researchers from the University of California have created a wristband that may diagnose and improve the treatment of conditions including cystic fibrosis and diabetes.
The device detects levels of different molecules in sweat, which may indicate a certain disease.
WHAT ARE KIDNEY STONES?
Kidney stones can develop in one or both of the organs.
Around three in 20 men and two in 20 women develop them at some stage in their lives.
If small, they may go undetected and pass through the urine.
Yet, if they become blocked in the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder or in the duct that transports urine out of the body, they can become very painful.
Stones form if waste products of the blood crystallize in the liver.
The risk increases if you do not drink enough water or take certain medications.
If too large to be passed naturally, stones may need to be broken up using ultrasound or laser energy.
Keyhole surgery may be required in extreme cases.
Source: NHS Choices Dr Topol does not specialize in kidneys, as a keen advocate of mobile health technology, he trained himself to take organ scans earlier this year.
credit link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4455750/Doctor-uses-PHONE-diagnose-kidney-stones.html#ixzz4feBKTxIM
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
