Currently, the technology ends up making our lives easier. And, to have a longer and better quality life, it is necessary to take care of health.
THE anemia is blood disease extremely common that affects approximately 2 billion people worldwide. The disease can now be diagnosed more easily.
Through a cell phone with a good camera and application installed, it is possible to evaluate the blood color and estimate hemoglobin concentration.
For this, the test system was developed HemaApp, application to measure anemia by cell phone. Learn more about him below.
Discover the HemaApp app
O application was developed by the University of Washington, where it uses light from the camera phone to detect the color intensity of the blood circulating in the finger of user.
Remembering that, knowing your blood hemoglobin level this is very important information to check if you have it or not anemia. THE hemoglobin transports O2 to the tissues, in which it is a protein made up of two components: heme and globin.
At the complete blood count, we have information about the levels of hemoglobin, red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, etc.
In the proposed method, cell phone cameras are used to estimate the hemoglobin values, which is also useful for Health professionals who care for patients in communities far from large centers.
Therefore, if the number of identified red blood cells is low, it could mean that the user has tested positive for anemia. Remember, however, ever consult a doctor if in doubt that need to be clarified.
How does the identification of hemoglobin levels work?
In this type of analysis, the user places his finger on the phone's camera lens, activates the application and lightly press your finger.
The LED light is illuminated by the finger where the camera captures information about the blood color to detect the specific characteristics and application performs several automatic calculations, thus indicating the estimated amount of hemoglobin.
In many cases, it is ideal to use a application on a simple phone to determine the hemoglobin level, at least as limiting information, and then a blood count complete will be needed to confirm any changes and clarify the situation.
You tests of application at Seattle Children's Hospital are encouraging. Although this method is still not as accurate as a blood test, is as efficient as Masimo Pronto.
The Masimo Pronto device costs hundreds of dollars and uses LEDs to detect disease and measure hemoglobin levels.
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One of those responsible for this invention is Professor Shwetak Patel, who has developed several methods of using smartphones to reduce the cost of medical examinations.
Therefore, with this new method, it is expected that the tests will be easier in areas with a large number of mobile device users so that the teams medical use these tests and exams in areas where cell phones are not available. Currently, the application It is still in the testing phase.