Student creates app that detects anemia by taking pictures of nails

Anemia is a condition that develops when a person's blood does not have enough red blood cells or hemoglobin. It affects two billion people worldwide and, if left untreated, can lead to fatigue, pallor and heart problems.

But now, instead of a blood test, biomedical engineers have created an app that can use photos of a person's fingernails to accurately measure the amount of hemoglobin in the blood.

“This is a standalone application, the accuracy of which is on par with tests currently available, without the need to draw blood,” said Dr. Wilbur Lam, professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine.

The app is part of former graduate student Rob Mannino's doctoral work. He was motivated to conduct the research based on his own experience of living with beta-thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder caused by a mutation in the beta-globin gene.

“This whole project couldn't have been done by anyone but Rob,” said Lam. “He took pictures of himself before and after transfusions, as his hemoglobin levels were so high. changing, which allowed him to constantly refine and tweak his technology on himself in a very efficient.

The researchers say their app could facilitate self-management for patients with chronic anemia, allowing them to monitor their illness and identify times when they need to adjust their therapies or receive transfusions.

They believe the app should be used for screening, not clinical diagnosis.

The researchers add that the technology can be used by anyone at any time and can be especially suitable for pregnant women, women with abnormal menstrual bleeding or athletes.

Clinical diagnostic tools have stringent accuracy requirements, but the team behind the app believes that with research additional tests, they may eventually reach the accuracy needed to replace blood-based anemia testing for diagnosis clinical.

The current gold standard for diagnosing anemia is known as a complete blood count. Researchers studied pictures of fingernails and correlated nail color with hemoglobin levels measured on the complete blood count of 337 people: some healthy and others with a variety of diagnoses of anemia. The algorithm for converting nail color to blood hemoglobin level was developed with 237 of the subjects and then tested on 100.

The smartphone app is expected to be commercially available next spring. In the meantime, the patent application was filed and the results were published in the journal Nature Communications.