FDA clears diagnostic iPhone app for MDs

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. doctors will be able to view medical images and make diagnoses with the first iPhone and iPad application approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The app lets doctors to view images from scans like CTs, MRIs and PETs, but "is not intended to replace full workstations and is indicated for use only when there is no access to a workstation," William Maisel of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health said Friday.

"This important mobile technology provides physicians with the ability to immediately view images and make diagnoses without having to be back at the workstation or wait for film," he added.

Images are compressed for transfer over a secure network to portable wireless devices using software called Mobile MIM, made by MIM Software in Cleveland, The Washington Post reports.

The FDA said it "reviewed results from demonstration studies with qualified radiologists under different lighting conditions. All participants agreed that the device was sufficient for diagnostic image interpretation."