Biomedical engineers have developed a novel smartphone application that could non-invasively detect anaemia without the need for a blood test. The app uses photos of a person's fingernails taken on a smartphone to accurately measure how much haemoglobin is in their blood. Fingernail beds are ideal for detection of anaemia because they do not contain melanin - pigment that gives human skin, hair, and eyes their colour - indicating that the test can be valid for people with a variety of skin tones.
"All other 'point-of-care' anaemia detection tools require external equipment, and represent trade-offs between invasiveness, cost, and accuracy," said principal investigator Wilbur Lam, Associate Professor from Emory University in the US. "This is a standalone app whose accuracy is on par with currently available point-of-care tests without the need to draw blood," said Lam.
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