Today, UltraSight, a digital health pioneer transforming cardiac imaging through the power of artificial intelligence, announced it has joined Butterfly Garden, an artificial intelligence (AI) Marketplace launched by Butterfly Network, Inc. (“Butterfly”) (NYSE: BFLY), a digital health company transforming care through the power of portable, semiconductor-based ultrasound technology and intuitive software.
UltraSight and Butterfly have partnered to increase patient access to cardiac care by enabling more healthcare professionals to perform cardiac ultrasound. Subject to regulatory approvals and authorizations, UltraSight aims to integrate and deploy its real-time AI guidance software on Butterfly’s imaging platform and build the software for use with Butterfly’s single-probe, whole-body handheld ultrasound system.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading global cause of death, accounting for an estimated 18 million deaths yearly. Today patients face significant delays in receiving crucial cardiac testing due to a fragmented market full of system bottlenecks, in addition to a national shortage of expert sonographers.
UltraSight’s mission is to empower any medical professional, including novice users with no prior sonography experience, to confidently conduct echocardiographic examinations and capture diagnostic quality cardiac ultrasound images at the point of care. Achieving compatibility with the most prominent handheld ultrasound device companies in the market, such as Butterfly, facilitates the company’s goal of increasing access to cardiac care and reducing system bottlenecks for patients.
“Joining the Butterfly Garden marks an important moment in our mission to revolutionize cardiac care,” said Davidi Vortman, CEO of UltraSight. “By integrating our real-time AI guidance software with Butterfly’s cutting-edge ultrasound technology, we are poised to transform the landscape of cardiac imaging. This collaboration will empower healthcare professionals, regardless of their experience level, to perform accurate and timely cardiac ultrasound exams at the point of care. Together, we will break down existing barriers in cardiac care, ensuring that more patients receive the critical diagnostics they need, when and where they need it most.”
“We are thrilled to partner with UltraSight to bring their AI guidance software to Butterfly devices in an effort to mitigate the pressing issue of sonographer shortages, among other workforce challenges, impacting medical communities around the world,” said Darius Shahida, chief strategy officer of Butterfly Network. “UltraSight and Butterfly are jointly dedicated to making healthcare more efficient, effective and accessible through high-quality ultrasound that’s easy-to-use and globally available.”
In August 2023, Butterfly Network launched Butterfly Garden, allowing third-party developers access to its proprietary SDK and APIs to build new AI applications that work in conjunction with Butterfly’s imaging platform, bringing with it access to the largest point-of-care ultrasound customer base. UltraSight, with capabilities to provide more medical professionals with the ability to take high-quality diagnostic images of the heart, has the potential to close the gap between novice and skilled Butterfly ultrasound users, and is an ideal match for the program.
When paired with ultrasound devices, and following the appropriate regulatory clearance for each device, UltraSight’s underlying AI neural network can predict the position of the ultrasound probe relative to the heart based on the ultrasound video stream and guide the user on maneuvering the probe to capture diagnostic quality cardiac images.
UltraSight’s partnership with Butterfly follows a series of recent collaborations with other industry leaders such as Mayo Clinic and EchoNous. For more information about UltraSight, visit www.ultrasight.com. For more information about Butterfly, visit www.butterflynetwork.com.
