Technology that keeps track of how your smartphone is oriented can now give $50,000 ultrasound machines many of the 3D imaging abilities of their $250,000 counterparts—for the cost of a $10 microchip. The key to the technology is a fingernail-sized microchip that mounts onto a traditional ultrasound probe—the plastic scanner that slides over gel-slathered skin to relay 2D images of what lies beneath.

Just like a Nintendo Wii video game controller, the chip registers the probe’s orientation, then uses software to seamlessly stitch hundreds of individual slices of the anatomy together in three dimensions.

The result is an instant 3D model similar in quality to a CT scan or MRI, says Joshua Broder, MD, an emergency physician and associate professor of surgery at Duke Health and one of the creators of the technology. Two-D ultrasound machines with higher resolution have clearer 3D pictures.

“With 2D technology you see a visual slice of an organ, but without any context, you can make mistakes,” Broder says. “These are problems that can be solved with the added orientation and holistic context of 3D technology. Gaining that ability at an incredibly low cost by taking existing machines and upgrading them seemed like the best solution to us.”

Broder pondered the possibilities of 3D ultrasound in 2014 while playing with a Nintendo Wii gaming system with his son, he said. With the game console’s ability to accurately track the exact position of the controller, he wondered, why not just duct-tape the controller to an ultrasound probe?

After tinkering on his own for a year, he took sketches to Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, connecting with then-undergraduate Matt Morgan, and biomedical engineering instructors and professors Carl Herickhoff and Jeremy Dahl, who have since taken positions at Stanford where they continue to develop the device.

The team has used Duke’s own 3D printing labs to create their prototypes, which start with a streamlined plastic holster that slips onto the ultrasound probe. A technician can use the probe as usual, or add 3D images by simply snapping on a plastic attachment containing the location-sensing microchip. To get the best 3D images, the team also devised a plastic stand to help steady the probe as the user hones in on one part of the anatomy.

The microchip and the ultrasound probe connect via computer cables to a laptop programmed for the device. As the user scans, the computer program whips up a 3D model in seconds.

Both Duke and Stanford are testing the technology in clinical trials to determine how it fits in the flow of patient care. The creators believe some of the most promising uses could be when CT scans or MRIs are not available, in rural or developing areas, or when they are too risky.

“With trauma patients in the emergency department, we face a dilemma,” Broder says. “Do we take them to the operating room not knowing the extent of their internal injuries or bleeding, or do we risk transporting them to a CT scanner, where their condition could worsen due to a delay in care? With our new 3-D technique, we hope to demonstrate that we can determine the source of bleeding, measure the rate of bleeding right at the bedside and determine whether an operation is really needed.”