Smart phones have become increasingly powerful at performing a wide range of health-related tasks in recent years.  Many of these applications utilize the camera built into the phone to perform a range of diagnostic tests. A few years ago I wrote about a fascinating project from Washington University that saw an app developed to screen for anemia.

The service uses the camera built into each smartphone to gauge the concentration of hemoglobin and therefore test for anemia in the user.

A recent study from Emory University School of Medicine highlights the latest such project, with the researchers explaining how accurate anemia tests can be performed by your phone rather than the traditional blood test.

The app is designed to facilitate better self-management by patients who have chronic anemia and allows them to monitor their condition whilst also identifying those times when their treatment needs to be adjusted.

Managing care

The technology can be used by anyone and is designed to be simple to use, and therefore even applicable in developing countries.  Suffice to say, it isn’t sufficiently robust to act as a clinical diagnostic tool yet, but the team are confident that it could eventually become so.

Ultimately, it could prove to be a viable alternative to the complete blood count (CBC) test, which is the gold standard for anemia diagnosis today.  The app was developed by studying hundreds of fingernail photos, with particular attention given to the color of the fingernail beds.  This data was correlated with the hemoglobin levels of the participants.

As a result of this training, the algorithm was able to accurately pair fingernail color with blood hemoglobin levels.  In testing the app was able to measure hemoglobin levels with an accuracy of 2.4 grams/deciliter with a sensitivity of up to 97% after being shown just a single photo of the fingernail.  This can be improved significantly if the app was personally calibrated for individuals.

By using fingernail beds, the team believe the app is viable for all people, as melanin is not contained in the fingernail bed, and therefore it’s usable by people with all skin tones.

The team are working to improve the app by partnering with doctors to obtain more data to conduct further testing and calibration.  They believe that it will be available on the market in 2019.

It’s an interesting technology, and you can learn more about it via the video below.