MIM Software has announced that their Mobile MIM platform has received its second FDA 510 (k) clearance for the updated Mobile MIM 3.0 version. After a 2 and 1/2 year journey for the first FDA approval they received in December ’10, Mobile MIM has now also been approved for diagnostic X-ray and ultrasound viewing, as well as radiation treatment plan review and approval.
When we interviewed Mark Cain, CTO of MIM Software, earlier this year, he told us about how MIM made the jump to iOS,
When the iPhone SDK came out in 2008, almost on a whim, we thought we would see if we could make an imaging tool. We had good programmers but they had never written in Objective C [the programming language of iOS]. Jerimy Brockway and David Watson worked at home for 1 week and at the end of that we had a functioning prototype that convinced that this was real.
They have certainly come a long way since then.
This latest FDA 510(k) clearance for Mobile MIM 3.0 brings with it three significant new capabilities – diagnostic x-ray viewing, diagnostic ultrasound viewing, and radiation treatment plan review/approval. The latter was actually one of MIM Software’s earliest offerings, expanding to radiation oncology from its original software for PET-CT fusion. As for the X-ray viewing, Mr. Cain explained that the original 510(k) narrowed the indications for Mobile MIM based on FDA concerns,
We settled on indications for use they were comfortable with, specifically “diagnostic display of CT/PET/MRI/SPECT modalities when radiologist does not have access to a PACS workstation”. [Diagnostic] xray is not included due to the resolution (2000-4000 pixels).
In the press release, the applications for radiation oncology are described in greater detail,
Radiation oncologists can use Mobile MIM to review dose volume histograms, isodose curves, contours, and images for treatment plans – actions commonly restricted to a limited number of dedicated workstations…With the release of Mobile MIM 3.0, MIM Software also plans to launch a co-branded version of the app with its partner Accuray Incorporated. The co-branded Accuray version of the app, PlanTouch™, will have an interface that allows physicians to review and approve a CyberKnife® treatment plan via a direct link.
In our full review of Mobile MIM, we talked about its extensive toolkit for viewing/manipulating images, local and cloud storage capabilities, and other features. We have also highlighted how platforms enabling radiology viewing on tablets can be used practically by surgeons. As we not only see Mobile MIM expand its capabilities, but similar trends with competitors like ResolutionMD, its clear that mobile viewing of radiology is going to continue to expand for the foreseeable future.
Source: Press Release
