Butterfly Network
Ultrasound Personalized

The journey of an idea is often intriguing. It starts with a simple thought process of understanding the needs and necessities of a specific demographic, and through successive iterations, the concept may manifest into a product that could leave the world in awe. Such is the story of Dr. Jonathan M. Rothberg’s idea of reinventing the wheel with Butterfly IQ, a handheld ultrasound probe. Rothberg has taken the healthcare industry by storm through his company, Butterfly Network. The uniqueness Butterfly Network’s ultrasound apparatus lies in its form factor and the functionalities it offers by merely connecting to a smartphone.

The groundbreaking innovation of portable ultrasound apparatus came at a time when nearly five billion people around the world were deprived of access to medical imaging; even when they were accessible, the cost of ultrasound treatments was significantly high. It was Dr. Jonathan Rothberg who decided to solve the unsolvable by working with some of the well-renowned scientists and engineers to develop a portable ultrasound machine. Fast forward five years since then, Butterfly Network achieved the remarkable feat of mounting an ultrasound chipset on a device that resembles an electric razor connected to a smartphone and forged the first of its kind whole-body imager, which cost less than $2000, and thus began the era of personalized ultrasound.

Scaling Down Ultrasound

Owing to its minimalistic, handy, and technology packed form factor, Butterfly IQ has the potential of imaging any part of the human body. It transcends the traditional ultrasound systems that have bulky, heavy moving parts. By merely plugging into a smartphone and synchronizing with an application, the probe records the ultrasound imagery, allowing the medical practitioners to obtain the images needed for succeeding clinical procedures immediately. The probe also uses augmented reality (AR) overlays and filters on top of the ultrasound images, thereby assisting the user to classify different parts of the body such as tissues, muscle membranes, and circulatory systems. The companion application on a mobile device comes with 18 presets for different body parts, allowing the user to target specific organs and effectively obtain ultrasound imagery for their clinical analysis. In addition to these presets, the application also features various modes, which could localize the area of ultrasound concentration to examine irregularities in corresponding body parts.

It boasts the functionality of zooming into a particular area directly through the mobile application to capture the image, as seen on the live stream. By incorporating measurement tools using AR functionalities, Butterfly IQ enables users to accurately comprehend the dimensions of growths, tumors, or foreign particles present in the human body.

Butterfly IQ holds the capacity to potentially replace stethoscopes, wherein, doctors could image a heart or lungs rather than measuring the blood pressure or observing the heartbeat

Butterfly IQ holds the capacity to potentially replace stethoscopes, wherein doctors could image a heart or lungs rather than measuring the blood pressure or observing the heartbeat. Such an approach could turn out to be extremely beneficial for doctors, as employing ultrasound for diagnostics at an early stage would reveal the cause of discrete clinical symptoms, in turn, paving the way for faster treatments. As an added benefit, the Butterfly IQ probe comes with a built-in battery and wireless charging functionalities for enhanced usability and is designed to last for two hours of continuous scanning. The anodized aluminum body is designed to withstand thermal stresses and harsh conditions.

To further enhance the capabilities of Butterfly IQ, the company has built integrated cloud storage to facilitate real-time collaboration efforts among medical practitioners. “It isn’t just a cloud, it is a way to connect with clinical peers, solution providers, and patient,” explains Rothberg. The cloud architecture allows users to organize their findings, imagery, and collaborative studies on the Butterfly Cloud, in turn, orchestrating the access to data across multiple platforms such as web, mobile, and on-premise operating systems. Users of the device can exchange their findings by directly interacting with industry leaders through a chat communication channel—which resembles a messaging interface—enabling the exchange of data instantaneously. The communication channel provisions the distribution of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability) compliant studies through a smartphone, thereby connecting hospitals and ultrasound users across the world. By safeguarding the data using AES 256-bit encryption, these channels boast end-to-end security across the distribution network. It also secures data sets that are shared from the Butterfly IQ application to the Butterfly Cloud by utilizing the HTTPS, TLS 1.2 encryption modes. An additional SOC 2 certification guarantees that the data is continuously monitored and secured.

A Specialist’s Take on Butterfly IQ

Butterfly Network details various applications of the Butterfly IQ by collaborating with experts such as Dr. Mike Stone, an emergency physician and a point of care ultrasound specialist.

In one of the illustrations showcased by Butterfly IQ, Dr. Stone demonstrates the detection of Pneumothorax, where patients can develop symptoms such as chest pain, asthma/COPD, or even find themselves struggling to breathe. He explains how ultrasound could be an excellent modality to assess the probability of being diagnosed with Pneumothorax. By connecting the Butterfly IQ probe to a smartphone, Dr. Stone examines the presence of the abnormality at the patient’s bedside, in real time. By selecting one of the presets (lung) in the application, he moves the probe in the parasternal direction to observe the bone cortex of the rib. Dr. Stone finds that there is no air interposition between the visceral and parietal pleura, hence confirming the absence of Pneumothorax in the observed area. He then decreases the depth of view in the mobile viewfinder to observe the area of concentration more clearly. By repeating the procedure around the localized region, Dr. Stone concludes that the patient is free from Pneumothorax, highlighting the flexibility of using Butterfly IQ, anytime, anywhere.

"Butterfly IQ enables users to accurately comprehend the dimensions of growths, tumors, or foreign particles present in the human body"

The company lists various such applications that not only improve the usability of the ultrasound apparatus but also provide greater accessibility to clinical applications. The benefits of the Butterfly IQ probe scale down the structural limitations of an ultrasound apparatus to a device that could fit in the palm of one’s hands. As a matter of fact, the form factor of the device is the manifestation of Dr. Rothberg’s vision of democratizing the access to ultrasound equipment, which was anything but abundant across hospitals worldwide. Dr. Rothberg decided to take matters in his own hands when his daughter was born with tuberous sclerosis, a skin condition that causes tiny tumors all over the body of the patient requiring ultrasound imaging for the treatment. Frustrated as he was to learn that not a lot of hospitals are equipped with such machinery, Dr. Rothberg started working with scientists to make the apparatus more versatile and easily accessible. Today, Butterfly IQ is one of the most anticipated products of 2018.

A Digital Health Unicorn

Since its establishment in 2011, the company has raised $250 million, constituting a net worth of $1.25 billion in the healthcare industry. The 1.25 billion evaluation of the company also signifies that Butterfly Network is a Unicorn—an organization valued at $1billion or more— that cements its ground as one of the groundbreaking healthcare technology solution providers of the millennial era. Rothberg plans on adding a wearable patch and a pill to the company’s arsenal of medical appliances that could potentially allow medical practitioners to obtain ultrasound imagery from inside the body of a patient. Supremacy of this magnitude has firmly set the stage for Butterfly Network to dominate the ultrasound marketplace, as the company plans to develop a multitude of devices that could complement medical practitioners in a myriad of applications. Through these milestones, Butterfly Network aspires to make ultrasound imagery as ubiquitous as thermometers and stethoscopes, with enhanced functionalities and usability.