Cell Phone Cameras Transmit Medical Data

This enables patients to receive care when doctors and patients are hundreds or thousands of miles apart.

The system is ideal for developing countries or remote areas lacking advanced medical equipment and trained medical specialists. It can also transmit urgent medical data from battlefields, disaster zones, and other dangerous locations, according to the scientists in the United States and Brazil who developed the technique.

Cell phones are owned by almost three billion users worldwide; roughly half the world's population. Millions of new cell phone users are added each year in Africa and South America and in countries such as India and China. When equipped with cameras, the ubiquitous devices can conceivably be used in remote areas as the eyes and ears of doctors without the need for an on-site visit.

In the latest study, George M. Whitesides, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA) and colleagues in Brazil designed a prototype system that combines cell phone cameras with easy-to-use, paper-based diagnostic tests that undergo color changes when exposed to certain disease markers. The scientists demonstrated the feasibility of the system by using paper test-strips to collect and characterize artificial urine samples, as urine can be easily obtained from patients and contains a wide range of disease markers.

Using a simple cell phone camera, the scientists took pictures of the color-changing test-strips and transmitted them to a remote off-site expert. The expert accurately measured glucose and protein levels--used as hallmarks to diagnose various kidney diseases--from the test-strip image. According to the scientists, similar tests can be conducted on other body fluids, including teardrops and saliva.

"The cellular communications industry is, and will continue to become, a global resource that can be leveraged for detecting disease,” said Dr. George M. Whitesides. Two recent studies by other researchers showed that cell phones can be used to acquire and transmit images of wounds and rashes to off-site locations for diagnosis, he noted.

The new study is published in the May 15, 2008 issue of the American Chemical Society's Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal.


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