Sonograms Made Simpler

Heart sonograms can help diagnose conditions like rheumatic heart disease—which kills 1.4 million people annually—but many poor countries lack ultrasound machines and the technicians trained to use them. Caption AI’s machine-learning software can help. The software, envisioned to work with a new generation of handheld ultrasound devices, guides techs through the small adjustments needed to capture a view of the heart that a doctor can then examine for potential problems. “You can’t send every single person to a cardiologist every year,” says Kilian Koepsell, Caption Health’s co-founder and CTO. “But you can go to a regular checkup with your primary-care physician, and with these technologies they can screen you much better than it was possible before.” —Alejandro de la Garza

Contact us at letters@time.com.