Researchers at the University of Washington have developed an app that could allow people to easily screen for pancreatic cancer simply by snapping a smartphone selfie.The app named \u2018BiliScreen\u2019 uses a smartphone camera, computer vision algorithms and machine learning tools to detect increased bilirubin levels in a person\u2019s sclera, or the white part of the eye.<\/p>\n
One of the earliest symptoms of pancreatic cancer, as well as other diseases, is jaundice, a yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes caused by a buildup of bilirubin in the blood.<\/p>\n
In adults, the whites of the eyes are more sensitive than skin to changes in bilirubin levels, which can be an early warning sign for pancreatic cancer or hepatitis.<\/p>\n
The ability to detect signs of jaundice when bilirubin levels are minimally elevated could enable an entirely new screening programme for at-risk individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem with pancreatic cancer is that by the time you\u2019re symptomatic, it\u2019s frequently too late,\u201d said lead author Alex Mariakakis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hope is that if people can do this simple test once a month\u2014in the privacy of their own homes\u2014some might catch the disease early enough to undergo treatment that could save their lives,\u201d Mariakakis said in a statement released by the university.<\/p>\n
In an initial clinical study of 70 people, the app\u2014used in conjunction with a 3D printed box that controls the eye\u2019s exposure to light\u2014correctly identified cases of concern 89.7 per cent of the time, compared to the blood test currently used.<\/p>\n
The new app has been described in a paper to be presented at Ubicomp 2017, the Association for Computing Machinery\u2019s international joint conference on pervasive and ubiquitous computing to be held at Maui, Hawaii from September 11-15.<\/p>\n
The blood test that doctors currently use to measure bilirubin levels\u2014which is typically not administered to adults unless there is reason for concern\u2014requires access to a health care professional and is inconvenient for frequent screening.<\/p>\n
BiliScreen is designed to be an easy-to-use, non-invasive tool that could help determine whether someone ought to consult a doctor for further testing.<\/p>\n
The researchers believe that beyond diagnosis, BiliScreen could also potentially ease the burden on patients with pancreatic cancer who require frequent bilirubin monitoring.<\/p>\n
IANS<\/p>\n
Picture courtesy: Alamy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed an app that could allow people to easily screen for pancreatic cancer simply by snapping a smartphone selfie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[28,49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4726,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4724\/revisions\/4726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}