PathoCam: Point-of-Care Medicine with an Android Camera Phone

WAN QI CHOO and JUSTIN SOHNSchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907

Advisors: JAN P. ALLEBACH, EDWARD J. DELP, RON REIFENBERGER A VIP Project – Spring Semester 2013

A GLOBAL NEED – PERSONALIZED MEDICAL CARE

• Medical diagnostics comprise <5% of total hospital costs, yet they influence 60-70% of

healthcare decisions.

CAMERA PHONES - A WAY FORWARD?The impressive penetration of mobile cellular phones worldwide is driving rapid advances in telemedicine.Estimated 4.6 billion cell phones have been sold worldwide.

QUESTION: Could camera phones be used to meet the increasing demand for inexpensive point-of-care medical tests that are easily administered by an untrained patient?GOAL: Develop a point-of-care medical test that relies on a dedicated ‘cell phone app’.IMPACT: Health care world-wide could be revolutionized.

PROJECT BACKGROUND – PATHOGEN IDENTIFICATION BY PATTERN RECOGNITIONAt Purdue an interdisciplinary team (Phil Low and Alex Wei, Chemistry; Yeong Kim and Ron Reifenberger, Physics) has developed a novel approach to point-of-care bacterial identification. Chips patterned with immutable ligands capture targeted bacteria into pre-determined patterns that can be identified remotely using pattern recognition algorithms. The technique is fault-tolerant, robust and simple, requiring only the analysis of camera phone images of the chip after exposure. The five-step approach is summarized below:

.

• In developing nations, expenditure on medical diagnostics is minimal. There is little interest in financing diagnostic development due to perceived lack of return on investment.

• Highly sensitive tests are expensive and therefore inaccessible at remote point-of-care locations. • An innovative, disruptive, and inexpensive paradigm shift in diagnostic technology is required.

2. Expose to test fluid (15 mins.)

1. Distribute patterned chip

3. Captured bacteria forms

pattern

5. Central location for pattern

analysis. Results returned directly to

point of origin.

4. Cell Phone Imaging

Special thanks to Shao-Fu Xue and Albert Parra-Pozo for all their help

Application Development

Looking To The Future

PATHOCAM 'APP '

Two-Way CommunicationThe next goal is to create a server that

will automatically identify the illness and report it to the user.

Home Screen

Selecting a Cellular PhoneCharacteristics:

•Easy to program•Widely Available•Useful Features•Future Updates http://www.statisticbrain.com/android-phone-statistics/

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-technology-news/most-popular-cellphone-brands-in-the-world

Most Popular Mobile Phone Brand by Gartner Inc.

SAMSUNG Android Selected

Application Features:•Easy to use•Ability to capture an image•Ability to send image to remote location•Receive results

Environment:

•Android development tool: Eclipse

•Programming language: JAVA

•Android compatibility: 2.2 – 4.2

Current Development

GPS CoordinationTo map the disease so that the user

can see the distribution of the infection

Capture Chip Image

Confirm Image

Input User Email

AddressReceive

Feedback

Image Saved in PathoCam

Folder

Use Unique Filename:

IMEI_DateTime.jpg