Source: Good News Network
Written by Stephen Beech / SWNS
A newly-developed smartphone app can now diagnose anemia without even having to take a blood sample
Anemia is a condition that develops when a person’s blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells or haemoglobin. It affects two billion people worldwide and if it is left untreated, it can lead to fatigue, paleness, and cardiac distress.
But now instead of a blood test, biomedical engineers have created an app that can use smartphone photos of someone’s fingernails taken to accurately measure how much haemoglobin is in their blood.
“All other ‘point-of-care’ anemia detection tools require external equipment, and represent trade-offs between invasiveness, cost, and accuracy,” said principal investigator Doctor Wilbur Lam, associate professor of paediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. “This is a standalone app whose accuracy is on par with currently available point-of-care tests without the need to draw blood.”
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The app is part of the PhD work of former grad student Rob Mannino. He was motivated to conduct the research based on his own experience living with beta-thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder that is caused by a mutation in the beta-globin gene.
“Treatment for my disease requires monthly blood transfusions,” said Mannino. “My doctors would test my haemoglobin levels more if they could, but it’s a hassle for me to get to the hospital in between transfusions to receive this blood test.
“Instead, my doctors currently have to just estimate when I’m going to need a transfusion, based…
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