A researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a technology designed to allow detailed medical images to be transferred via mobile phones.

Professor Boris Rubinsky hopes to bring sophisticated radiological diagnoses and treatment to the majority of the world's population who lack access to conventional medical imaging systems.

The concept consists of two independent components connected through mobile phones.

Professor Rubinsky is head of the Research Center for Research in Bioengineering in the Service of Humanity and Society at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is also a professor of bioengineering and mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Working with him on the project were Yair Granot and Antoni Ivorra, both of the Biophysics Graduate Group at Berkeley.

Their invention is jointly patented and owned by Yissum, the Hebrew University's technology transfer company, and the University of California, Berkeley.

"Imaging is considered one of the most important achievements in modern medicine," said Professor Rubinsky.

"Diagnosis and treatment of an estimated 20 per cent of diseases would benefit from medical imaging, yet this advancement has been out of reach for millions of people because the equipment is too costly to maintain.

"Our system would make imaging technology inexpensive and accessible for these underserved populations."

An 'independent data acquisition' device at a remote patient site would be connected via mobile phone technology with an advanced image reconstruction and hardware control multiserver unit at a central site which can be anywhere in the world.

The cellular phone technology transmits unprocessed raw data from the patient site to the cutting-edge central facility that has the sophisticated software and hardware required for image reconstruction.

This data is then returned from the central facility to the cellular phone at the patient site in the form of an image and displayed on its screen.

"The data acquisition device can be made with off-the-shelf parts that somebody with basic technical training can operate," said Professor Rubinsky.

Some three-quarters of the world's population has no access to ultrasounds, X-rays, magnetic resonance images and other medical imaging technology, according to the World Health Organization.

This new technique is described in the latest online issue of Public Library of Science ONE.