Communications of the ACM
New Smartphone App Can Detect Newborn Jaundice in Minutes
A new smartphone app checks for jaundice in newborns, and can deliver results within minutes.
Credit: University of Washington
University of Washington (UW) researchers have developed BiliCam, a smartphone application that checks for jaundice in newborns and can deliver results to parents and doctors within minutes. The researchers say the technology could serve a screening tool to determine whether a baby needs further blood testing.
BiliCam relies on a smartphone's camera and flash and a color calibration card. The user places the card on the baby's belly and then takes a picture with the card in view. The card calibrates and accounts for different lighting conditions and skin tones. Data from the photo are sent to the cloud and analyzed by machine-learning algorithms, and a report on the newborn's bilirubin levels is sent almost instantly to the user's phone.
"The advantage of doing the analysis in the cloud is that our algorithms can be improved over time," says UW professor Shwetak Patel.
The researchers ran a clinical study with 100 newborns at UW Medical Center and found BiliCam performed at least as well as conventional screening tools.
"BiliCam would be a significantly cheaper and more accessible option than the existing reliable screening methods," says UW doctoral student Lilian de Greef.
From University of Washington News and Information
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