Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 6
Mobile Medical Applications
The development of medical smartphone applications (apps) can allow quantifi-
-
cation of rapid diagnostics at point-of-care and enable clinical data collection in real
time. Mobile medical apps can reduce the erroneous subjective readouts, and create
a standard readout platform with connectivity options at low cost. This chapter
demonstrates the development of an app algorithm that utilises the camera of the
Android and iPhone smartphones to read colorimetric tests. This smartphone app
can be used with dipsticks, lateral-
flow-through assays as well as aqueous
colorimetric tests that are typically read by spectrophotometers or microplate
readers. The mobile app was designed to provide on-site quantitative screening
when rapid diagnosis is needed. The utility of the smartphone app was demon-
strated through quantifying pH, the concentrations of protein and glucose in
commercial urine test strips, which had linear responses in the ranges of 5.0
fl
ow and
fl
9.0,
-
15
300 mg/dL, respectively. The app can be adapted for semi-quan-
titative analysis of commercial colorimetric tests, rendering it an inexpensive and
accessible alternative to more costly commercial readers.
100 and 50
-
-
6.1 Global Health and Mobile Medical Applications
Decentralisation of healthcare through low-cost and highly portable point-of-care
diagnostic devices has the potential to revolutionise current limitations in patient
screening, particularly in the developing world, where the diagnosis is hindered by
inadequate infrastructure and shortages in skilled healthcare workers [
1
,
2
]. Over-
coming such challenges by developing accessible diagnostics could reduce the large
burden of disease [
3
,
4
]. Currently, diagnostic devices such as strip tests (dipsticks)
and lateral-
ow tests are widely used to measure the concentration or detect the
presence of various target analytes [
5
]. Such tests are employed for urinalysis,
immunoassays, veterinary screening, food quality tests, environmental monitoring,
biothreat detection and drug abuse screening. Dipstick and lateral-
fl
ow test formats
are ubiquitous because of their portability, compactness, ease-of-use and equipment-
free approach;
fl
rendering them universally applicable platforms for simple,
