Health Canada Approves Butterfly iQ Handheld Ultrasound to Combat COVID-19

After a priority review, Health Canada has issued medical device licensing for a point-of-care ultrasound device from Butterfly iQ, Guildford, Conn. The handheld device is plugged into a user’s cell phone to display the images, which are then stored in a HIPAA-compliant cloud. The device can now be used throughout Canada as a diagnostic tool for COVID-19.

“A growing body of evidence shows that point-of-care ultrasound is a critical tool for triaging and monitoring patients impacted by COVID-19 and we have heard the same from hundreds of clinicians from around the world,” says John Martin, MD, Butterfly’s chief medical officer. “Canadian healthcare practitioners, on the front lines of this pandemic, can now access the Butterfly iQ to perform lung ultrasound at the point of care which has been effective in detecting pulmonary involvement in suspected COVID-19 patients.”

The Butterfly iQ was FDA-cleared in 2017 for 13 clinical uses, including fetal, gynecological, urological, cardiac, and abdominal.

For more information, visit Butterfly iQ.